Changing Fate: Requiem
by Regulus
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto has lost. Everything and everyone he loved is dead. His only option now is to bet on a desperate gamble to send the two souls inhabiting his body back in time to merge with his past self in order to gain a second chance. Ch.6 up.
1. A Second Chance

Ragged breathing filled the air, though he tried keeping it as silent as possible. He was doing all he could to mask his chakra, but he wasn't sure it would be enough. He was exhausted and had been running for what felt like an eternity. Being forced to hide - to stand still for an extended period of time - was allowing that tiredness to creep up on him like a shadow. Every muscle in his body was crying out for him to stop, but he wouldn't listen. He couldn't stop until he knew he was safe, if anywhere 'safe' still remained. Swallowing hard, he closed his eyes and tried to regulate his breathing. A slow breath in through his nose, a slow breath out through his mouth.

He hated having to close his eyes for any reason. Past events replayed as vividly as if he were standing there, watching them all occur in person once more. The nausea that accompanied these visions never got any better over time. Just the opposite, in fact. The closer someone had been to him, the sicker he felt when he saw their death play out. He hadn't been good enough to save any of them, in the end. He was the only one left, and if he was captured, the entire planet would fall victim to Uchiha Madara's insane scheme.

Uzumaki Naruto cracked his eyes open slightly, daring to peek around the corner of the cave he had taken refuge in. He hadn't heard anyone for a few minutes, and he couldn't hear anyone now, either. That meant very little in his world, however, and he knew that fact all too well. Pulling back into a proper hiding position, he let himself slump down to the ground. One last time, he needed to talk to the Kyuubi. The plan they had been formulating for so long had to occur that day. If they missed their chance, it would take another half a year before they could make another attempt. Naruto knew he wouldn't live to see that second attempt. It had to occur that night.

"Well?" He whispered almost inaudibly. "Do we still have enough chakra to do this?"

From inside his head, a deep, rumbling voice replied, "_We do... though only just. If we go through with this and fail, we'll be as good as dead_."

"We won't fail." Naruto murmured, resting his head back on the uneven surface of the cave wall, paying little attention to the pain. "We can't fail."

"_You don't sound very sure of yourself_." Growled the Kyuubi.

"Never been less sure of anything in my life." Naruto admitted. "But I trust you. You wouldn't let me die. You'd die, too. And if you say we can do this... then we can do this."

"_You speak as if I have ever attempted this. You know very well I haven't. If it were anyone else, their body would be torn asunder almost immediately. I suppose I was lucky to be shackled to someone as tolerant of pain as you_."

"I'll take that as a compliment. So..."

"_You know what you need to do_?"

Naruto nodded, smiling despite himself at the gesture. "By heart. There's a lot riding on this. I can't afford to screw this up like I have with everything else."

There was a guttural noise from the Kyuubi before it continued, "_When you give the word, I will start cycling my chakra through you. I won't be wresting control of your body away this time, so you'll have to tolerate whatever discomfort it causes you. You have to remain conscious until we're both ready to throw every ounce of our remaining chakra into this_."

"And... you're sure we'll remember this?" Asked Naruto, his weary voice even softer now. "We'll remember that we went back?"

"_I have no answer for that_." Replied the Kyuubi. "_As no one has ever succeeded. But you will need to remember to break the seal as soon as you can_."

"Yeah... otherwise there's a long wait until we talk again. Can't have that. You're a better strategist than me. And if I'm not able to talk about this to anyone there, then I'll need an outlet for it."

"_If all goes well, we shall merge with them and share our memories. In time, we will be fully assimilated into them and they will be the dominant personality. Until then, we will probably be in charge. If all goes well, by the time that happens, we'll be as we are today, anyway. And if not, I pray we are smart enough to work out what to do_."

"Can't believe we're actually going through with this. Of everything, I didn't think I'd end up killing myself to escape Madara..."

"_Death is merely the beginning. We **will **fix this. I dislike being made a fool of. And I dislike the thought of being used as a weapon even more. Uchiha Madara will suffer eternally for what he has done. I will make sure of that_."

"This is going to be difficult..."

"_Do not think of it in terms of difficulty_."

"Then how _should _I think of it?" Asked Naruto, bringing a hand up to brush hair away from his eyes. "This is going to be the hardest thing I've ever done for a lot of reasons..."

"_Instead, think of being able to see them again. Alive and well. Use that as your focus_." Said the Kyuubi.

"Alive and well... huh?" Naruto repeated, a weak smile forming. "This is going to suck. Isn't it?"

"_Incredibly_."

"Then let's get it over with. And... if all goes well, I'll see you on the other side."

"_And if it does not_?" Asked the Kyuubi.

"Then at least we keep Madara from winning. When I die, you die. Regardless of whether we succeed or not, we still cut off his access to the final jinchuuriki he needs to invoke Tsukuyomi on the moon. We win, either way." Naruto said, staggering back up to his feet. "Next time..."

"_Next time, **we **will be the ones standing over **his **dead body_." Snarled the Kyuubi.

Placing one hand over his chest, and the other over where the Kyuubi's seal had once been on his stomach, Naruto closed his eyes. This was absolutely insane, and the chances of it working were next to zero. As the surge of chakra crashed into him, he struggled to remain awake, let alone in control of it all. They would be able to sense it, too, if they were still close enough. They had precious little time and only one attempt could be made, as even if they failed to disconnect their souls from their body, they would still be turning their body into a lifeless husk.

Eyes glowing red as they slowly opened again, Naruto whispered, "Wait for me, Uchiha Madara. The next time we meet, I'm going to split more than your mask open."

There was a sudden jolt, and Naruto felt like someone had lit his body on fire. Pain like he had never felt before coursed through him and seemed to centralize itself between his eyes. He could hear the Kyuubi talking to him, but it was faint and garbled. He couldn't make out any of it. He couldn't figure out what was going on. He was standing there, only he wasn't, as he was looking down at himself. Slowly turning, the motion accompanied by the feeling of thousands of needles stabbing into him, he saw what had to be the Kyuubi, being pulled into some kind of spiral-shaped burst of chakra.

He stopped fighting the pull of it, and was slowly dragged towards it as well. And, as it began to twist him into itself, he gave his body one last look.

They had lost. Everyone he had known and loved had been killed. Everything he had fought for had been destroyed. Every time he got stronger, it hadn't been enough. In the end, all he could do was run away. And now, in a nondescript cave in the middle of nowhere, he had killed himself in a desperate gamble to turn that loss into a victory.

As his consciousness was ripped away from him, he thought he saw shapes move in front of the cave's entrance. Words were shouted, but he couldn't hear them. The world around him spun out of existence, and he was left in a black, shapeless void.

It wasn't over yet.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

**Author's Notes: **Oh god, what have I gotten myself into? I'm already slow at updating as is. Uh... well, hello to everyone who's reading this, I suppose. This is to be the prologue for the first 'volume' of something of a rewrite. ...Which seems to be my gimmick when I stop to think about it. This is my first dance with anime fanfiction in a long, LONG time. The way I figure it, by the time I get anywhere even close to the halfway point in this story, the manga itself will have long since come to a close. So I'll have that going for me.

Updates to this will be slow, since it's technically only a side project. Got a big Harry Potter monstrosity rolling right now, and that's my main focus. This is a more 'when the mood strikes' type thing. I will be doing some tweaks and adjustments here and there, since doing straight re-writes bites the root, man. Off the top of my head? This'll be Naruto x Sakura primarily. It'll probably be laced with enough angst to drown a town populated by emo kids. And if I don't have some dedicated chapters to Neji x Hinata, then I've done something wrong. Those are the only two pairings I've got set in stone right now, though. Not sure who to put Ino with. Ah well, I'm sure I'll figure something out. Bullshitting as I go also seems to be a gimmick of mine.

Updates will come sporadically. Check my profile (or my twitter, which is linked there) on updates, since I keep something of an update blog on my profile page and comment on what I've written as I write it over on twitter. The next chapter will be a full-sized one. Which is to say it should be about 6,000 or so words and clock at around 30kb. That's standard chapter size for me these days.

I hope I can do this justice. It's been tough convincing myself to do this, let alone put it up for criticism. Still, it's one of those 'if you don't see it, write it yourself' type things. I'm insanely picky about what I read. Here's to a hopefully successful side project. I'll see ya next time, kids.


	2. Broken

He hated the night.

Or rather, he hated everything about the night. The night itself, he supposed, wasn't all that bad. It was just that it encompassed a lot of the things he couldn't stand. The silence was deafening at night in Konohagakure. It was to be expected, of course, being a town filled with ninjas. It didn't mean he had to like it. He hated that he was stuck inside at night. Being caught outside at this hour would do nothing for his already-poor reputation. The old man kept telling him he was one more problem away from being in serious trouble. As of yet, he hadn't gone through on any of those threats, though. He hated that he could lie in bed and think.

He didn't like to think. Thinking kept him from being able to tune out reality. Given that he was almost friendless and hated by most of the town, that was saying something. There were precisely two people he could call his friends, and both were far older than he was. He didn't even know _why_ he was hated so much. But the villagers would only glare at him as he passed, and were all too eager to blame him for anything that went wrong. And while he certainly wasn't entirely blameless - he spent a good deal of time playing pranks, after all - it did get to a point where he was growing sick of it.

But he wouldn't let them see him at his weakest. In his bed, gazing out at the stars, he could just be himself. He wanted to prove himself to the town. He wanted to be a hero to them. He wanted to be the Hokage. They would see then. He would get strong enough to change all of their feelings towards him! The problem was figuring out how to get that strength. To say that his ninjutsu was weak would be an understatement. The old man seemed to think he had untapped potential, but would never go into detail as to _why _he felt that way.

Uzumaki Naruto, arms crossed under his head, blew out a quiet sigh. This wasn't the life he'd envisioned living. On his own, in a run-down apartment building, with no friends and a grim future as a potential ninja. The villagers hadn't tried any kind of physical violence with him, but the mental half was another matter entirely. Very few spoke directly to him, choosing instead to speak amongst friends in stage whispers that he couldn't help but overhear.

The kids were no better. The Academy was alright, but the parents had passed their hatred of him along to their children. This, combined with his poor showings in class and the pranks he pulled to distract himself from it all, had cemented his place amongst his peers. He didn't especially mind, save for a few very specific cases. His eyes narrowed as he gazed at the moon. What he wouldn't give to get one clean shot on that Uchiha brat...

A sharp, sudden pain in his chest caused Naruto to wince, his vision doubling for a moment. The moon seemed to dissolve and reform in a split-second and, for that brief moment, Naruto could've sworn he saw a giant eye staring back down at him. Blinking rapidly, his vision cleared and the moon was as it always had been. But the pain in his chest... that was new. He sat up, rubbing at the sore spot through his pajamas. What the devil had caused that? He had been feeling perfectly fine all day long, vague feelings of annoyance aside. He couldn't remember eating anything out of the ordinary, either.

The pain slowly began to fade away and, once he was sure it was gone, Naruto tentatively laid back down. As his head hit the pillow, he gave another glance at the moon. The eye he thought he had seen still wasn't there, however. Shrugging, he brushed it off to something bad in the ramen he had eaten for dinner. He went to roll onto his right side, facing away from the window, but couldn't quite complete the maneuver. He found himself violently shoved onto his back again, as though something had slammed into his stomach at a great speed.

Arms clutching his midsection, Naruto started to sit up again when his head erupted in pain. Rapid flashes of light illuminated terrible scenes of death and destruction, each one worse than the one before it. People he had only seen in passing at the Academy were lying broken and bloody Konoha itself had been reduced to rubble, men in red and black cloaks stood in shadow before crumpling one by one, and that eye he thought he had seen on the moon. He could barely process anything through the searing pain coursing through his body. Curling up into a ball, he tried crying out, but his voice died in his throat. It, too, felt like it was on fire. His eyes were squeezed as tightly shut as he could force them, and it still wasn't keeping the light out. The scenes of death were moving by even faster, repeating and picking up even more speed each time.

Then, just as suddenly as it had struck him, it was gone. It didn't fade away, it didn't die down, it simply stopped. He dared to crack an eye open after a minute, and found that he was still lying in bed. His breathing was labored, and his head hurt from keeping his eyes squeezed shut. But the pain in his body had gone away completely.

Slowly, Naruto pushed himself upright again, legs swinging over the edge of the bed. He staggered to his feet and padded towards the bathroom, forced to keep a hand against the wall for support. The room seemed to spin every few seconds, and he didn't entirely trust his feet to stay on the ground. Flipping on the bathroom light, he walked to the sink and looked at himself in the mirror hanging over it. As his eyes attempted to focus on his reflection, he thought he saw someone standing behind him. Jerking his neck, he spun around only to find that he was, in fact, alone.

He turned the cold water on, splashing his face a few times to try and rinse out all the cobwebs. When he looked into the mirror again, his own reflection was all that greeted him. Hands on the sides of the sink, Naruto hung his head and blew out a shaky breath. What the hell had _that _been about? If it happened again, he was going to go and wake up his instructor at the Academy. Iruka wouldn't mind the intrusion, especially if there was something wrong with his student's health. And Naruto certainly didn't feel good. Barring the fact the pain itself had gone away, all of those grim images were still with him, and he felt as though he had just finished running a marathon. He hadn't been this exhausted in a good while, and he couldn't remember that time feeling anywhere near as awful as this one.

Lifting his head, Naruto stared at himself in the mirror for a few minutes more before pushing himself back up and turning to head back to bed. Maybe he just needed a good night's sleep or something. That, he decided, would be the best way to solve his problem. If his problem would give him enough time to actually drift off to sleep, in any case. As he reached the bed, he toppled over forward into it and dragged himself up onto it. He grabbed for a pillow and clutched it tightly, burying his face against it and trying to regulate his breathing. This wasn't how he had wanted to spend his time that day. As the darkness washed over him, one coherent thought kept bouncing around his mind.

He hated the night.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Where...am I?"

Naruto had awakened in an abysmally dark hallway. He assumed it to be a hallway, in any case, as it seemed longer than it was wide. There was a faint light coming from the only visible end - the way behind him was just as dark - so he started to slowly walk towards it, keeping a hand on one of the walls, which was freezing cold and felt like stone. There was a very faint rumbling sound coming from just ahead, where the hallway opened onto a room. Eyes narrowing, still uncertain of what was going on, Naruto pressed onward, finally reaching the end of the dark hall.

The found himself standing in a massive room, one with equally massive bars splitting its middle. It looked almost as though it was some sort of jail cell, though what could be kept imprisoned behind such large bars, Naruto didn't want to imagine. He didn't feel uneasy, per se, but something was grating on his nerves and he wasn't entirely sure what it was. The place felt awfully familiar, despite the fact that he had never been there in his life.

"You haven't..." Came a soft voice from behind him. "But I have."

Naruto whirled around, only to find himself looking at what appeared to be an older version of himself. The older Naruto smiled down at him, weariness evident in his eyes. The younger Naruto was about to open his mouth to say something when the older one held up a hand, stopping him.

"Don't. Not enough time. That took a lot more of our energy than we thought it would. We were lucky to make it at all. Took several tries to get in, as it were. Dad made sure the seal was strong, to be sure."

"What are you talking about? Who are you? And where are we?" Asked the younger of the two, looking decidedly confused.

"In your head. Or my head. I guess right now, it's 'our' head. I'm not making much sense, am I?"

The younger Naruto shook his head.

Sighing, the older Naruto glanced beyond his younger self's head and asked, "How much time do you think we have, partner?"

From behind the giant metal bars, somewhere in the darkness beyond, a low, growling voice replied, "Enough to make do. Be quick about it, though. All of us need rest."

Naturally, the younger Naruto had spun around, eyes wide as the disembodied voice spoke. And, before his older self could say anything, he had cried out, "What the heck was _that_?!"

"This is going to be a lot to swallow." Said the older Naruto, leaning back against a wall of the room. "I'm you. Rather, I'm who you'll eventually be. That guy back there is the nine-tailed demon fox. Yes, the one that attacked the village. The Fourth - our father, by the way - sealed him into us. Apparently he wanted us to be the hero of the village. That turned out well, didn't it?"

"Get on with it." Growled the Kyuubi, sounding just as tired as the older Naruto did.

"Right. Sorry." Apologized the older Naruto, wincing a bit. "Look... I used a forbidden technique to separate my soul - and the Kyuubi's with it - to bring it back through time to just before I graduated from the Academy. A lot happens between your time and mine. A lot of bad things."

"I saw people dying... and the town in ruins..." The younger Naruto said, frowning. "...Wait, what do you mean a technique to separate your soul?"

"From my body. I... killed myself, basically." Admitted the older of the two. "It was necessary. You saw what it was like. The town had been destroyed. My friends had been slaughtered. I'd failed... and I couldn't keep running. So me and the Kyuubi back there began thinking. While we ran, we managed to think up a wild plan. We weren't even one hundred percent sure it would work. Since we're here talking right now, it seems even I managed to get lucky for once. We did it so we can merge with you. We're not taking over, but... you're going to have our memories. Meaning you're going to know everything that happens between now and my time."

He paused here, seeing a grin beginning to form on his younger self's face. He shook his head slowly, though, and continued, "It won't be fun. And we can't let too much change. That's the problem, see..."

"What? Why not, why not? If I know what's going to happen..."

"...Then you have to let it play out. Look, I only have one branch of this story, you know. If you change too much, things are going to play out differently and I don't know where anything will go. My sacrifice will be in vain if that happens because I'm banking on things playing out the same way they did the first time around. Get it now? There's a cut-off, certainly. And I'm willing to take risks here and there, but... if we mess up anywhere along the way, things could turn out even worse than before. One of the most important things I need to tell you is that you cannot tell _anyone _about this, do you understand? You can't let anyone even _think _that you can see into the future!"

"But why? Wouldn't we be able to save everyone that way?" Asked the younger Naruto, looking even more confused.

"We haven't fully merged yet. It should finish by morning. There won't be any 'you' or 'I' after that. We'll just be Uzumaki Naruto. We'll be the jinchuuriki containing the nine-tails. I want you to break the Kyuubi's seal immediately after waking, by the way. When you wake up, you'll understand everything you need to. I'm sorry I'm not making much sense. I'm asking you to believe a lot, and you probably think this is just some wild dream. Listen... if anyone knows about this 'power' you're being given, they'll want to use it. Everyone knows you've got the Kyuubi in you - why do you think they hate you as much as they do? They don't see you as Namikaze Minato's son, they see you as just a monster bearer that the Fourth died to save. They're good people, but we have to earn their trust first. That won't be a problem, but we have to choose when and where to risk changing things. The Kyuubi will help you out, since my presence will be gone after tonight. I've barely got the strength to stand here and chat with you like this."

"What if I don't believe you? What if this _is _just some nightmare?"

"The real nightmare will start when you wake up. I'm placing a horrible burden on you. And for that, I apologize. But I couldn't let it end with Madara winning. I couldn't let him enslave the entire planet. There are so many things I wanted a chance to do over. To act a little different, to be a bit more understanding, to try and stop Sasuke from leaving, to try and stop Sakura from being killed, to try and keep Jiraiya from willingly going to his death... there are so many things we need to stop from happening this time... I'm just not sure all of them can be." Naruto explained, slipping down the wall until he was sitting, his head lolling forward slightly. "Che... already? Damn it all, there's still..."

"It's time to let go." Said the Kyuubi's voice. "You've done enough. It's his time to take control now. Believe in him - in yourself - and rest. I'll guide him through what needs to be done. I'm not going anywhere."

Eyes slipping shut, the older Naruto grit his teeth. "One last thing, you old bastard..."

"And what might that be?" Asked the Kyuubi.

A weak grin split the older Naruto's face. "Win."

A pair of large eyes snapped open behind the bars as the older Naruto's body crumpled to the side and faded away, the first visible sign of something living being there. The Kyuubi was silent until his companion had vanished completely. The younger Naruto was the only one there now, and he had rushed to his older self's side to try and do something. Having been unable, he had stood and slowly turned to look up at the demon fox's eyes. A grin, not unlike the one the older Naruto had worn as he left, rose on the Kyuubi's face as he stared down at the uncertain boy before him.

"After we arrived here, but before you showed up in this place, he asked me a question. Do you know what that question was?"

Naruto shook his head slowly.

"He asked 'when did we arrive?' And do you know what I replied?"

Again, Naruto shook his head.

"'In time to fix everything.'"

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright in bed. His vision was blurred and for a moment, he wasn't sure why. His breathing was coming in short, shallow bursts and he had a splitting headache. Bringing a hand up to his face, he froze. The last thing he remembered was the Kyuubi telling him that it and his older self had arrived in time to fix things. After that, everything had gone black. So why was he crying? Throwing the blankets off of his, Naruto shakily got to his feet and headed for the bathroom.

Midway there, he felt something threaten to rise in his throat. At once, his mind began replaying the deaths of those who he would become friends with, in even greater detail than before. Slapping a hand over his mouth, Naruto dug into the cold floor and ran into the bathroom, barely making it to the sink before he was sick. Coughing violently, his eyes stinging from the tears, Naruto emptied what little was in his stomach from the previous night.

Swallowing weakly when he was sure the dry heaving had stopped, Naruto ran some water to clean both the sink and himself. He felt hideous now, as though his older self's ungodly exhaustion had also made the trip back through the years. How his older self hadn't gone crazy from having to deal with all of those things, he wasn't sure. After swishing some water around his mouth and swallowing a second bit to try and remove the taste of ramen and bile, he put a hand over his stomach. He paused then, staring down at himself, remembering he still needed to do something. He knew how to remove the Kyuubi's seal.

Taking a slow, deep breath just to check to see if he would throw up again, Naruto turned and left the room. As he walked to the edge of his bed, he unbuttoned his pajama top, removing it and tossing it over into a pile of clothes that needed washing.

"Gerotora... won't see him for awhile." Naruto murmured to himself as he touched the seal on his stomach. "Man, I hope he wasn't lying."

Flexing the fingers on his right hand, Naruto made a face. "Pressure points, huh? Damn it, I'm going to hit _him _in the gut this time, see how _he _likes it..." Taking a deep breath, he slammed the fingers on his hand into the seal and growled, "_Gogyou Kaiin_!"

Scowling as he glared up at the ceiling, his stomach hurting both from getting sick and from the self-inflicted impact, he grumbled, "Please tell me that worked..."

And, from somewhere that seemed to be just behind his ears, came the familiar, rumbling voice of the imprisoned demon fox. "_It worked_."

Sitting up slowly, Naruto asked, "So now what?"

"_Now we begin working. We fix the problems we ran into during our original run through while doing our best to keep things from changing too much_."

Making a face, Naruto griped, "That makes no sense! How can we change things if we're worried about changing things?!"

"_We have to choose when and where. And we have to choose very, very carefully. Like he told you, it's dangerous and if we do too much, we lose our advantage. We'll need to begin practice to get your body into shape as soon as we can. The sooner we can start to appear as though we were naturally getting stronger, the better_." The Kyuubi explained.

"Naturally?"

"_Since the seal was broken, I can cycle my chakra into you and you can fuel your techniques with it. __If need comes to it, we can... merge, shall we say. Your older half made it quite far. Trying for all nine tails is suicide and would most likely trigger my release. Seven or eight are highly dangerous and put both of our lives in danger. Below that and we should be relatively fine. Merging aside, you should have his knowledge of techniques, yes_?"

Naruto frowned, closing his eyes and thinking. Brief flickers of techniques he had never seen before entered his mind. "I... see something. It's kinda fuzzy, though."

"_Likely a side effect of the two of us fusing with the two of you, if that makes sense. They should become clearer once we're whole_." Explained the Kyuubi. "_It's still early in the day, from the looks of it. Let's go outside. It has been a long time since the two of us have seen Konoha in one piece, __and I'm sure he would appreciate seeing it once last time before he completely fades away_."

Nodding, Naruto quickly changed into his usual orange and blue outfit, something that caused an odd sort of buzzing in the back of his head. Unable to place why, he shrugged the feeling off and, grabbing the goggles on the table beside his bed, Naruto opened his window and hopped out, bounding up and onto the roof of the old apartment he lived in. The sun was just starting to rise, and it was still relatively cool outside.

After spending awhile surveying the town, Naruto dropped into a crouch. "It was hard, huh? All that stuff you two went through?"

"_More than I could put into words, yes. Your older self became very depressed towards the end, though he always hid it well. He smiled the widest when he hurt the most. He wasn't able to keep it secret from me, however. And the two of us, towards the end, began to speak far more than we ever had prior. __I won't fade like he did. His chakra reached an end, but mine will live on. I will be guiding you as we go along. Heed my advice, no matter how strange it might seem, or we might miss the precious few chances we'll have at changing things_." Said the Kyuubi.

"What should we change first?" Asked Naruto, glancing up toward the Hokage Monument. "Keeping the old man alive?"

"_No. The Third's death needs to play out, unfortunately. We need Tsunade here to help protect the town and to help your would-be girlfriend train_." Stated the Kyuubi. "_Thinking about that, however... we may not need to leave this time around. The dealings with the Uchiha I will largely leave up to you,__ however. Obviously, we cannot simply go and execute him. But we need to try to get through to him before Orochimaru sinks his fangs into him. If we can convince him not to leave - if we can convince him to stay and train with us - we might stand a far better chance at changing the outcome of the war_."

As the Kyuubi talked, memories began floating up from the fuzziness in Naruto's mind. Images of a funeral, a blond woman, and many, many battles against Uchiha Sasuke flickered to life. Wincing, Naruto murmured, "Hey..."

"_Yes_?"

"Will she... y'know?"

"_She_?"

"Sakura-chan." Naruto stated, scratching his cheek. "Can't look through the other me's memories yet and... well..."

"_You will learn what you wish in time_." Said the Kyuubi.

"Not a very promising answer..." Naruto said, sighing quietly. "...Hey, can I ask something else?"

"_Of course_."

"I've had this buzzing in the back of my head for awhile now... that just you guys 'settling in' or something?"

The Kyuubi paused for a moment before a bark of laughter made Naruto jolt. "_His presence is dimming. __But from what I can gather, he wants you to find a better outfit. Here... perhaps something like this one_..."

And in his mind, his older self appeared in the outfit he had come to favor. This one came through as clear as the morning sky to Naruto, who smirked. "What's the difference? It's just changing the blue for black! It's still mostly orange, isn't it?"

"_The sage bought it for him. He was especially fond of it_."

"Jiraiya?" Naruto frowned at this, feeling like someone had just attached a heavy weight to his chest. "...Yeah. Yeah, alright. Tell him I'll see what I can do. Gonna be hard getting a tailor to deal with me, though..."

"_Just behave yourself and you'll be fine. They may presently dislike you, but that will change in time. Money will override that hatred for the time being. And I'm sure, once the integration finishes, your general attitude will shift, anyway. I'm not positive, but expect it to occur anyway_."

"I already feel strange." Naruto admitted. "Feels like someone sucked all the energy outta me..."

"_Between our arrival and the fusing of your personality with your older self's personality, it isn't surprising. You have those goggles, which means the Bunshin test at the Academy has yet to occur, __correct_?" Asked the Kyuubi.

"Yeah, it's actually supposed to be later today, why?"

"_I will help guide your chakra. The first step in changing perceptions will be to change who you're seen as_."

Naruto cocked his head to one side, brow furrowed. "Say what?"

"_The town is used to seeing you as the prank-causing bundle of energy that can't control his chakra well. They see you as the reason the Fourth is dead. A simple shift in attitude, simply proving you can mold your chakra as you see fit, those will be the first steps to altering this timeline from our own. You gained many, many friends... but some of them took a long time. I've no doubt some, like the Hyuuga boy, will take a long time this go, as well. However, ignoring certain feelings or acting differently around certain people will go a long way. Follow my lead when we reach the Academy. I'll explain along the way, understand_?"

"I guess." Naruto said, standing back up. "Feeling kinda hungry, though. Seems my stomach's doing a little better... hope that doesn't happen too often..."

"_I cannot say whether it will or not. When the merger finalizes, you'll likely have flashbacks to countless horrors of war. When and where these trigger is beyond my control. Just remember: This time, __we will stop at nothing to prevent those images from becoming reality. We will **not **be beaten this time around_!" Snarled the Kyuubi.

Nodding, Naruto gave the town a slow once-over again. "They'll really change how they feel about me?"

"_In due time, yes_." Said the Kyuubi, its voice returning to a quieter level. "_We must earn that respect, however. The road ahead is long and bloody. There will be times when you'll feel like you have no control over anything. There will be times where you'll curse us for ever giving you this knowledge of the future. But we will overcome all of it because we will be stronger this time. And we will not let ourselves be so easily beaten_."

Leaping back down into his apartment and springing across the room, Naruto opened his bedroom door and headed downstairs toward the room he had made into a kitchen. "Guess I'll eat something really quick and see about getting to the tailor's right when he opens. Place the order now so it'll be ready by the time we get put on teams and stuff. Ugh... gonna cost a lot of money, though..."

"_It will help. If not outwardly, then inwardly. I think, when Jiraiya appears, we may be able to trust him to an extent_."

"With the fact that I can see the future?" Asked Naruto, popping open his fridge and glancing around inside.

"_Amongst other things, yes. But time will tell. There are many potential 'safe' targets we could see about giving select information to. But the last thing we need is to say or do the wrong thing in front of the wrong people. We'll have to be extra careful around those that can get inside your head and look around. I will be able to help train you in that regard, I believe_."

Scowling as he made himself a rather dry sandwich, Naruto sat at the old table and leaned against it, taking a cautious bite of his breakfast. He wasn't going to trust his stomach for awhile, but he needed to at least try to keep something down. After a few minutes, he seemed satisfied that, at least for the time being, he could eat again, he began to wolf the rest of the sandwich down. "Dunno why I'm so hungry..."

"_Again, mostly due to the energy expended because of the merger. And because the seal was broken, I'd imagine. Your appetite will probably a grow a bit more, which means you'll need to exercise a bit more than usual until things settle down and your body becomes accustomed to it all_."

"In other words, I'm just going to feel like I'm starving for awhile, huh? Man... and here I have to try and get a new outfit and groceries out of the pocket change I have. This is gonna suck." Groused Naruto, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

A low, rumbling chuckle came from the Kyuubi at that.

"What's so funny?"

"_It has been a long time since we have gotten some 'down time,' as it were. The change of pace is rather jarring. Enjoy it while you can, boy. Things will soon become very hectic. Now then... let us discuss how things will go at the Academy, should everything work as planned_..."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

**Author's Notes**: Yup. Getting the merger done with right off the bat here, so that we can more quickly start changing things. As the Kyuubi said, managing the present timeline while trying to keep it in synch with the other timeline is going to be hard. The first change is going to be at the Academy, which will be in chapter 3, and will hopefully give me some time for a few amusing bits. While I plan to keep Naruto fairly angst-riddled, what with war flashbacks and having to hide his secret, it's still early enough to have some fun.

The outfit change will be simple. He'll essentially switch to his Shippuuden gear in a few chapters. I've never actually seen fanart of young Naruto in his older half's outfit, oddly enough. Might have to go try and find that at some time.

As for eventual pairings? Well, NaruSaku will be in there. That'll be the main. There's also going to be a fairly major secondary pairing, but giving that away would spoil the fun of the actual moment of realization that's going to occur for one of the characters involved. Speculate all you want, as I'm keeping it all in amongst the main kids. No OCs here, folks. Also, maybe down the road, there'll be a very brief NaruIno moment or two, but that's going to be WELL away. And there's a good reason for it, too. It's just that explaining why would end up spoiling a lot. I've got a lot of hopefully entertaining changes planned for this. Keep tuned in, boys and girls. My update schedule might still be rocky due to a rather nasty case of writer's block that I can't seem to shake, but it'll get done.

Until next time!


	3. Joker's Wild

It had been an odd thing to do, but he had been driven to do so anyway. He had been up early, so it just seemed to make sense to arrive at the Academy early, as well. He had been sitting in the empty classroom, his arms crossed and his head down, for almost an hour before other students began to trickle in. He had been talking mentally with the Kyuubi, who had informed him that it was best not to let anyone else see him apparently talking to himself. His eyes were unfocused and he hardly took notice of the people arriving, though part of it was on purpose. The moment he had heard the door open, it felt as though someone had dumped cold water over him.

These people were all dead. Fully merged consciousness or no, the younger of the two Narutos was still receiving unfamiliar visions from his older self. It had happened a few times already, on the way to the Academy. Each time, it was as if someone had grabbed and squeezed his heart. A burst of sharp, shooting pain went out from his chest each time he saw someone he knew was dead in his older self's timeline. And while the Kyuubi said these visions would fade and wouldn't be as troubling as time passed, that didn't much help him in the present.

He heard the chair drag back next to him and had to suddenly bite back a surge of hatred. Gritting his teeth, Naruto closed his eyes and drew in a slow breath. So many years of rivalry turning to anger and loathing, and he had a chance to try and stop it early this time. That wasn't going to happen if he couldn't keep himself from gutting the Uchiha where he sat, though. With the Kyuubi talking quietly and rapidly, Naruto managed to slow his breathing and bottle up the anger, though he was going to beat the living hell out of some poor tree after the day's lessons were over with. But for now, he could hide it. If nothing else, he was a good actor, and that was prior to his older self arriving.

Just as he was almost fully calmed, arguing in the doorway triggered more visions, and he squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could to try and avoid making noise. Sakura and Ino had arrived, trying to barge into the room at the same time and getting stuck in the door as a result. Just the sound of their voices was bringing back moments that had haunted Naruto's older half for years. Memories good and bad flooded into his mind, perfectly clear, and threatened to cause a nervous reaction. Despite his best attempts, his breathing had gotten ragged, and he was starting to feel sick again.

"_Calm down_." Said the Kyuubi, its voice rumbling behind the visions. "_Open your eyes. Focus on the classroom. Those things haven't happened yet! They will not happen this time! You have to get used to these, as they're likely to be triggered regularly for the next few days. If you have to excuse yourself to be sick so you can get it out of your system, then do it. Don't sit and squirm. Get up_."

Naruto did as the Kyuubi said, feeling as if the world around him was spinning wildly. He had to grab ahold of the desk to keep from falling backwards. One hand was up to his face, trying to hide the rising look of panic spreading across it. As quickly as his legs would carry him, Naruto got up the steps and moved toward the door, one hand on the wall. Sakura and Ino had thankfully gotten themselves unstuck in that time, and he passed by them just before reaching the door. The second he caught the familiar scent of flowers in the air, he took off in a dead sprint out the door, not caring what state anyone saw him in. Even when he flew past Iruka in the hall, who turned and called after him, he didn't stop.

Throwing open the door to the bathroom, he barely made it to a sink before the retching began, far worse than what had taken place that morning. Now the memories were coming in without the fuzz and he was left to try and deal with the horrors his older self had had to endure. And while he could make out the Kyuubi's voice, he couldn't make out what the demon fox was saying. His ears were ringing and he was gripping the sink so hard that his knuckles were white. It wasn't until he got a moment to catch his breath that he noticed that Iruka had not only followed after him, but was slowly rubbing his back. Naruto was fully expecting another wave of nausea to wash over him, and prepared for the worst.

The worst, however, did not come. And, very slowly, Naruto managed to get his breathing stabilized once more. Swallowing roughly, he filled his hands up with water and swished it around in his mouth before spitting it out. A few more shaking breaths later, he had filled them with water again, this time to try and soothe his sore throat. Throughout the whole ordeal, Iruka hadn't said anything. He had simply stayed and tried to ease Naruto's pain as best he could, something he was grateful for. As he took a tentative, deep breath, he stood up, leaning against the counter for support.

"Alright?" Asked Iruka, his voice quiet.

"I... I think so..." Naruto said, his voice still quavering slightly. "Thanks..."

"Something not agree with you?" He asked.

"Yeah... something like that." Naruto replied, nodding slowly. Blowing out a long breath, Naruto turned and faced Iruka, as though willing the visions to do something again. But the visions never came, and he tried to bring a weak smile up to hide his emotions. He was sure his instructor didn't believe it for a second - the man had practically raised him, after all. Iruka had taught him to cook so that he could live a bit more independently. He had also instilled a love of gardening in Naruto that the would-be genin found slightly embarrassing. "Shoulda thrown that instant ramen out a few nights ago, I guess..."

Iruka surveyed Naruto's face for a moment before smiling as well. Indeed, he knew the boy far too well to believe his story. But he also knew that trying to pry information out of an unwilling Uzumaki Naruto was next to impossible. He knew that Naruto would talk to him if he needed to get something off his chest, so he let the matter go for the time being. "I believe I'm now late to my own class, however."

"Er... sorry, Iruka-sensei." Naruto said, mechanically adding the honorific at the end, something his older self had stopped doing for some time. "I should be okay for the test today. Not like I have anything left in my stomach..."

Smirking, his hand still on Naruto's back, Iruka wheeled him out of the restroom and into the hall. "You don't look like you slept very well, either. Nerves over the test?"

"Part of it, I guess. I WAS feeling slightly better about it before I got sick..." Groused Naruto.

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to regain some energy before it's your turn. You studied up on what to do?"

Outright scowling now, Naruto replied, "It's just a clone, I can do it!"

"Your last attempt begs to differ." Stated Iruka.

"There's a difference between being lazy and being talentless, Iruka-sensei." Naruto said, his scowl turning into a grin. "As long as I can do as good - or better - than that Uchiha jerk, I'll be happy."

"None of that." Iruka reprimanded. "You know how I feel about you two constantly bickering. I placed you next to each other in the hopes that you'd work out your differences."

"That's like trying to ask a brick wall to be soft." Argued Naruto. "Sasuke's about as open as a rock. If he wasn't trying to act so self-important all the time, he might have some actual friends."

"He's all alone, Naruto. You know how that can be. Only he doesn't have anyone to talk to like you do." Iruka said. "Just try and get along with him, alright? I know it might be difficult, but look on the bright side - the chances of you two passing on and being on the same team are fairly low. One more real test and you'll hopefully move on to the genin exams."

"Yeah... fairly low..." Repeated Naruto under his breath as the two reached the still-open door to the classroom. Iruka left Naruto to head for the front of the class. Naruto, after pausing to look down at Sasuke, started back into the room as well.

"Pressure getting to you, dead last?" Muttered Sasuke, his eyes on some point across the room.

"You wish." Came Naruto's reply as he crossed his arms and lowered his head on the table once more.

As Iruka began speaking, Naruto once more unfocused his eyes so he could have a mental chat with the Kyuubi, who had been quiet ever since he had gotten sick in the bathroom. _'You still paying attention_?'

"_Of course I am_." Rumbled the Kyuubi. "_Well done not rising to the Uchiha brat's taunt. He can be moody all he wants. We won't let him get his way this time around_."

_'__You're sure I can do this, right_?'

_"__Of course. You can do far better than a pathetic, regular clone at this point, after all_."

'_I guess... just not used to having all this information in my head. And I'm still shaky from being sick. That **sucked**_.'

"_At least a second reaction wasn't triggered by your teacher_."

'_Yeah... that was strange. Well, I'm not going to complain. I'm going to be so hungry by the time class lets out... ah crap, then Mizuki-sensei's going to try getting me to swipe the Kage Bunshin scroll for him, isn't he? That's going to delay eating even longer_...'

"_We assume he'll come to you. Things may play out differently. We are going to have you successfully use a Bunshin, after all. He might not think to tap you for his mission. We could throw the test, of course_..."

_'__I'm not throwing the test_.' Naruto stated, watching as the first of the students got up and walked to the front of the room to perform the technique. '_Maybe we seek him out if he doesn't come to us? Would that still work? I could say I got lucky. He'd believe it_.'

"_Possibly. Best not to worry about it until then, or you'll spend all of your time worrying yourself about future events. It's not healthy. Focus on the here and now and save the future for the future_."

'_Yeah yeah_...'

"Uchiha Sasuke!" Called Iruka.

Naruto tried not to pay attention as the girls of the class started making noise as Sasuke walked up to where Iruka was standing. Effortlessly performing the simple technique, Iruka came to inspect it for a moment before smiling at Sasuke and telling him that it was perfect. With a thumbs up, he sent the Uchiha back to his seat.

"Shame you didn't fail." Muttered Naruto, his voice low. "Your fangirls would fawn over you like a wounded deer."

Sasuke made no effort to reply, choosing instead to lean against the desk and ignore the blond. This was also perfectly fine for Naruto, though he was hoping to at least get some kind of reaction. If he could just covertly instigate a fight, he could vent some aggression and not have everything get pinned on him. That would take some doing, though. And there was still plenty of time before Orochimaru got his fangs on Sasuke. Once Team 7 was formed, Naruto would have a good chance to 'spar' with Sasuke, as he was sure the Uchiha brat was just as eager to get into a fight as he was. The only difference was that Sasuke thought he would win without having to exert himself whatsoever. It was that smugness that Naruto desperately wanted to wipe the floor with.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Called Iruka, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts.

"Have fun." Sasuke murmured quietly.

Naruto bit down as hard as he could on his lower lip to keep from attacking his classmate then and there. He had to focus. He couldn't fall to simple little taunts like that. Especially not this early into things. Wincing as he started tasting blood, Naruto scowled as he turned to face the class. A quick scan of them and he closed his eyes. So many faces that shouldn't be there. So many people who still saw him in a poor light. So much lost ground to recover. The weight of what his future self had done was sinking in quickly, and it was leaving a rather heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Bunshin no Jutsu." Naruto said, bringing his hands up. Opening his eyes and glancing to the side, he saw a perfect clone of himself standing there. It was looking back at him with a slightly worried expression. Scowling again, Naruto muttered, "Oh, what do _you _know?"

"...Huh. Well, that was unexpected. I guess you were telling the truth after all." Iruka said, coming over to inspect the clone. He grinned at Naruto and gave a thumbs up to the boy, who smirked in reply.

Walking back up to his seat, he ignored the stunned looks on the faces of his classmates. A textbook Bunshin was something he could've done in his sleep. Compared to his preferred variety of clone technique, a regular one was nothing. As he sat, crossing his arms back on the desk and lowering his head, he murmured, "Surprised?"

"Everyone gets lucky from time to time, dead last." Sasuke murmured in reply as another student was called down.

"We'll see. We'll see." Naruto said, smirking faintly. "By the way, enjoy your legion swarming you once class is over. I'll be out training."

Sasuke snorted quietly. "I wasn't aware spray painting mountains qualified as 'training.'"

"You're free to tag along. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two." Naruto said.

"Me? Learn something from you? You've been acting stranger than normal today." Sasuke observed.

"No, I've been acting normal. I suppose I'll just have to prove myself to you." Naruto said.

"I really don't care how you act." Sasuke stated.

"You care enough to note when I'm acting 'stranger than normal.' Which is it?" Asked Naruto.

Sasuke didn't reply verbally, choosing to instead glare weakly at Naruto. Naruto simply smirked in response, turning his attention back to Iruka as the final member of the class finished up the test. Mizuki was nowhere to be seen, and Naruto was fairly certain he was waiting outside the classroom. If he did indeed act like he got lucky and baited the soon-to-be traitor, he was sure he could get Mizuki to ask him to steal the Kage Bunshin scroll again. This time would be different. Iruka wasn't going to get hurt because of his stupidity this time. He had a few plans up his sleeve, depending on how things played out once class was over with.

His memories mixed with his older self's again, back to when this 'first' took place. He had made a clone, but it may as well have failed entirely, for all the good it was. He had sat on the swing, trying to ignore the parents talking to their children. He had run off, and Mizuki had found him, putting the idea of stealing the forbidden scroll in his head. He had foolishly listened, and Iruka had ended up seriously injured in the process.

'_Hey_.' Naruto thought, an idea sparking in the back of his mind.

_"__No_." The Kyuubi declared, knowing what the unasked question was. "_We aren't handling Mizuki ourselves. It's too dangerous. Too many people could sense my chakra flowing freely. They'd come for us. If I get sealed away by them again, all of this will have been for nothing. For better or worse,_ _we can't harm Mizuki ourselves. Not beyond what we originally did. He's a pathetic excuse for a ninja,_ _and I'll be guiding you this time. Mizuki won't get the better of anyone_."

'_Tsk. Fine, ruin all of my fun_," groused Naruto, '_but it still seems like it would be a good idea_.'

"_That's because your older self is gone now. He's left his memories and me behind to help fix things. The Kyuubi in you fused with me almost at once. No point in two of us, after all. You'll remain in control, but I'll be the one running things in here. I'll be pointing you in the right direction_."

'_Do you know how weird all of this is_?" Asked Naruto. '_Ugh... man, between getting sick and trying to think about all of this, I'm tired_.'

"_Did the flood of memories slow_?"

'_Yeah... for now_." Naruto responded, blowing out an inaudible sigh. '_Seeing Sakura-chan again... hurt. I haven't felt anything like that in my life_...'

"_It's no surprise. Your older self loved her to the very end. And now here the two of us are, and she's alive again. I'm more surprised that you've kept your cool around the Uchiha brat_." Growled the Kyuubi.

'_It hasn't been easy. You want to talk about easy ways out. Killing Sasuke would take a major thorn out of my side early. But I guess it's like you said... people would know, huh_?'

"_Precisely. Even if I did nothing but guide you, lending none of my chakra, it would still be very difficult. We've got to let things play out as closely to the original timeline as we can. If we did kill him now, then what? Uchiha Madara still needs me to achieve his goal. Akatsuki would still set its sights on Konoha. Pain would still come, eventually_."

Letting himself glance around the room slowly, Naruto shook his head. '_This sucks_.'

"_Grit your teeth and bear it, boy. Things aren't going to get any easier. This is a burden you'll have to shoulder alone_."

'_Alone, save for you, you mean_.'

"_I can't comprehend things from your perspective. I am, in essence, nothing more than a lost piece of a very large, very destructive weapon. It's only through being sealed that my rage slowly burned away, bit by bit. Most of that had to do with your older self. Out of all of my vessels, he was the only one to converse with me as though I was normal. As time passed, we finally found common ground and started working together. I could cover his blind spots, as it were, and he would simply stay alive. That is what I offer to you, as well, though now I also serve as an advisor. The Rikudou Sennin could have never anticipated such a thing when he split the Juubi_..."

'_Just getting glimpses of things is hard. Knowing that I have to live through them is worse_.'

"_Remember that if we do our jobs right, none of those things will happen_.'"

'_Yeah, but I'm not just talking about the bad memories. When I saw Sakura-chan, a lot of strange memories hit me all at once. It's just that seeing her... seeing her laying there was the strongest of them. Do you think... I could change her mind about me sooner_?'

"_I doubt it would harm anything. Certainly, having the Haruno girl fawning over the Uchiha brat less would be far more tolerable. Just mind what you say. Today, you've done a good job acting more like your future self_."

'_I've had a lot to think about_.' Naruto responded, getting up from his seat as class came to an end. He silently watched Sakura leave the room, following after Sasuke, before adding, '_I think I need to go somewhere quiet for awhile. If Mizuki will let me. Where the hell was he, anyway? I thought he helped Iruka on the Bunshin test_...'

"_A question I wish I had the answer for_." The Kyuubi said. "_I've tried not to linger on it too long. __The thought of the timeline already diverging from the one I've lived through is worrying. Perhaps we should hunt him down_."

Naruto shoved his hands into his pockets, scowling, and left the classroom. As he exited, he looked back to the front of the room, where Iruka was watching him. The man probably had more than a few questions of his own, but they would have to wait. Naruto needed to find Mizuki as soon as he could, and he knew that going to Iruka would just delay anything else. Aside from having to lie to his teacher about what was really wrong, he knew it would be a little difficult to explain away everything in a convincing manner.

Thankfully, at least for this one moment in time, fate seemed to give him a free pass. Rounding a corner, Naruto almost collided with Mizuki, who managed to sidestep in time.

"Whoa! Sorry, Naruto, I thought all of the students had left the building already." Said Mizuki, smiling pleasantly down at him.

"Where were you, sensei?" Asked Naruto, forcing his tone to be as normal as his mood would allow. "I thought you were supposed to help Iruka-sensei!"

"Ahh... is he mad?" Asked Mizuki, rubbing the back of his neck and looking apprehensive. "I got waylayed by a friend of mine. I kept trying to get away, but he just wouldn't shut up. Hey, how'd you do, anyway?"

"Nah, he isn't mad. I don't think he is, anyway!" Naruto said. Then, plastering his biggest, fakest grin on his face, he gave Mizuki a double thumbs-up. "Passed with flying colors! Was there ever any doubt?"

Mizuki blinked. "Passed? Really?"

"Hey, hey, don't sound so surprised!" Naruto said, jutting his chin out. "I trained hard, ya know! I was up most of the night practicing!"

Mizuki put his hands up. "Sorry, sorry! Didn't mean anything by it. Hey, since I was absent, would you mind showing me?"

_"__Now's your chance_." Purred the Kyuubi.

"No problem!" Declared Naruto, bringing his hands up. "Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A clone appeared next to him, grinned at Mizuki, and promptly collapsed in a boneless heap to the ground, where it flopped around for a few seconds before dispersing. Naruto stared at it in horror before jerking his gaze back to Mizuki, who looked like he was biting back a grin.

"Passed with flying colors, huh?" Mizuki said. "You sure about that?"

"I did!" Naruto argued. "You can go ask Iruka-sensei right now! I just... used up all my chakra on it, I guess. That's all..."

Mizuki chuckled, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Don't sound so put-out, Naruto. Believe it or not, when I was your age, I wasn't much better than you are right now."

"Really?"

"Really! Hey, I've got an idea. You want to get stronger, right? I've seen you glaring at Uchiha Sasuke more than a few times this year. Want to learn a trick even he can't pull off?" Asked Mizuki, kneeling down to look Naruto in the eyes.

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "What kind of trick?"

Glancing around to make sure the two were alone in the hallway, Mizuki leaned in and whispered, "The Third has a room in his house where a special scroll is kept. It's got all kinds of techniques written down in it. If you can ahold of that, you'd be able to learn at least one or two things he doesn't know about!"

"The Third's house?" Repeated Naruto. "Wouldn't it be dangerous trying to get to it, though?"

"Do you really think he'd do anything to you if he caught you sneaking around his place?" Asked Mizuki. "You could always bring some paint. That way it would look like you were going to just play another prank on him."

"...How come you're telling me this, Mizuki-sensei?"

"Ah, no reason. Just because you remind me so much of myself, I guess." Said Mizuki, standing back up. "You don't have to, of course. What do you think, though?"

"Well..." Naruto drawled, "I guess I could try to get it."

"Tell you what. I'll up the offer a bit more. You get that scroll and bring it to me and I'll make sure you pass and become a ninja." Mizuki stated.

"What, seriously? This isn't some bad joke, right?"

"Hey, if you can get into the Third's house and swipe his personal property, that alone would prove you're ninja material!" Said Mizuki, grinning again. "I'll wait for you across town, alright? Meet me there just after sundown with the scroll."

"You've got a deal!" Naruto said, grinning. "Gonna go grab something to eat, first! I'm starved!"

"Careful where you're going!" Mizuki called after him.

"_Laying it on thick, weren't you_?" Chuckled the Kyuubi as Naruto got out of sight from his other teacher.

'_He believed it, didn't he_?' Naruto responded. '_Things might not be playing out the exact same way, __but it's close enough to get by. Why the hell's the old man got that forbidden scroll in his house, anyway? That isn't very smart, is it? Here's this scroll with all kinds of dangerous things in it - let's put it in the den! What? Who does that_?'

Snorting, the Kyuubi replied, "_Try not to think too hard about it. It's because of his lax security that we'll be able to get to it. Part of me has always wondered if Sarutobi put it there because he was thinking something like this might happen some day. The old man's impossible to read_."

'_Could be_...' Naruto said, pushing the front door open and stepping outside. Wincing as the sun hit him, he grinned up at the sky. '_At least I'll be able to vent some of my frustrations on him, even if it's just with the Kage Bunshin. That reminds me, should probably pick up some ice on the way home. My knuckles are going to need it, if these memories are right. ...This is never going to be normal, is it_?'

"_Probably not_." Admitted the Kyuubi. "_Again - try not to think about it too hard. Don't spend your time in the past or the future. Focus on the present and keep your outward appearance as convincing as you can make it_."

Sighing, Naruto muttered, "Time travel makes my head hurt."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Look, I'm just curious is all. What the hell is his chin made out of, pure steel?" Naruto griped, throwing himself into a chair in his kitchen and stuffing his right hand into a bowl of ice. Sucking in a harsh breath and swearing at the same time, he continued, "Dammit, this isn't going as well as I'd hoped. Iruka-sensei still got hurt..."

"_You aren't used to being short again_." Stated the Kyuubi. "_Your memories are still interfering with your common sense, I feel_."

"I tripped and fell over." Spat Naruto, wincing as he shifted his hand a bit. "If I hadn't fallen, he wouldn't have run over. I guess I should be happy that things still played out like they did in the memory, but I'm not happy about him taking a Fuuma Shuriken to the back again..."

"_He'll be making nurses blush for the next two days. I don't think you have to worry about it. And since he saw exactly how much power you can generate when you need to, you're still set to pass_." Said the Kyuubi. "_Now we just have to hope the teams remain the same_."

"Oh god, don't make me start worrying about that." Naruto said, staring up at the light fixture on the ceiling. "The last thing I need is for something to go wrong with that. ...How long is my hand gonna hurt for?"

"_It will most likely be fully healed by morning. A side effect of my presence_."

"Good." Muttered Naruto. Half-closing his eyes, he added, "...I miss them."

"_Who_?"

"Everyone. It's one thing to see them alive and well, but I still don't _know _them yet, technically. And it's gonna be awhile before that happens. I could always try approaching them sooner, but it seems like letting things play out is safer. Being patient isn't exactly my strong suit, you know." Naruto explained. "It's the worst with Sakura, though. This morning was rough. It's gonna be really hard lying my way through life. I mean, let's say I give Sakura and that idiot the method to get the bells easily. Does that change anything? If I said I knew the Third was gonna be killed by Orochimaru during the tournament, would anyone believe me? And if they did, would that change anything? Would someone be able to get up there and stop Orochimaru? And if THAT happened, then what about finding Tsunade? If she isn't around, Sakura won't get trained and would probably end up getting killed by Sasori. If we kill Orochimaru, then what happens to Sasuke? Does he find someone else to follow until he's strong enough to kill Itachi?"

"_Breathe, kid_." Said the Kyuubi. "_It's pointless wondering. When the time feels right, we'll act. And if it doesn't, we won't. It only has to be that difficult. We'll deal with things as they happen. For one thing, we'll end up a lot stronger this time around. We need to see if you can invoke Sage Mode, __though, amongst other things_."

"Hard to try being at one with nature when I keep seeing dead friends any time I close my eyes. It would just break my concentration." Naruto said. Blowing out a sigh, he continued, "This sucks."

"_Your older self trusted that you'd be able to make things work out. You're nothing if not stubborn. If you get frustrated, you can just go to the training grounds and knock down a tree or two. Go training with Rock Lee. That would tire you to the point where you'd not think about it_."

"Not wearing green. Not yelling about the springtime of youth." Declared Naruto, lifting his sore hand out of the ice and moving his fingers around. It almost felt like he had cracked something during his Kage Bunshin rush on Mizuki. That it would heal faster than it had any right to didn't much help at that particular moment in time, though. It still felt like someone had dropped a building on his knuckles. "I guess you're right, though. I should try to keep from worrying unless something changes that shouldn't have. That'll be fun. Trying to figure out _what _happened differently and how we can knock things back on track..."

There was a gruff bark of laughter from the Kyuubi. '"_Things will work out somehow. You aren't the only one who wants to get revenge_."

"How long do you think it'd be before I could safely use any of the stuff I picked up after I went to train with Jiraiya?" Asked Naruto, tilting his head. "The Rasen-Shuriken, or..."

"_The form you took on after sealing me away? I was released, eventually. You will be able to use that ability if you require it. But your body in its current form might not withstand the strain of either of those techniques. Even your older self required a lot of training before he could freely access such things_."

"Then we need to start training as soon as my hand heals. Outside of anything we do as Team 7." Naruto said, sticking his hand back into the bowl of ice. Through gritted teeth, he added, "Not letting anyone die this time."

"_We will continue with working on your meditation before anything else. If you can't focus, you won't be able to accomplish anything. These memories that we've unfortunately brought back can't keep getting in the way_." Said the Kyuubi. "_We still have plenty of time before anything of note happens. Until then we will train as much as is reasonable. Perhaps your knew attitude will help change things on its own_."

"You think so?" Asked Naruto. "...Not sure I'd want it to happen until I got that meditation stuff worked out... what if Sakura touches my arm and it triggers a bunch of flashbacks?"

"_You worry too much_."

"And you don't worry enough." Groused Naruto. "Come on, I'm trying to cover all the angles here! I don't wanna get sick again. That's what _I w_anna work on first. Being able to hang out around Sakura without these stupid memories making me feel like I'm gonna throw up."

"_One thing at a time. Try to relax and focus on your hand for tonight_."

"I won't relax until Team 7 is Team 7 again." Naruto said. "Then I'll let myself relax a bit."

"_Fair enough. How's your hand doing_?"

"Do you really have to ask?" Naruto asked, sighing. Pushing his chair out, he stood up. Taking the bowl of melting ice over to the sink, he dumped it all out. "All I'm doing is making it hurt _and _be cold. I think I should just try to get some sleep."

"_A wise decision_." Said the Kyuubi.

"Yeah... we'll see." Murmured Naruto. "Just hoping my exhaustion's greater than the pain, else I'll never get to sleep."

"_Tomorrow, perhaps, we should go out searching for some seeds_."

"Seeds?"

"_To grow food. The first thing towards fixing your body is to start eating better. Umino Iruka may have helped teach you how to take care of yourself, but your older self was always at ease when he was tending to his plants. He said it helped him be at ease, no matter what was bothering him. He was denied this later in life due to the war. Perhaps it will bring you the same peace it afforded him. I see very little plantlife around here right now_."

"Been awhile, I guess. I'll think about it. I guess I should try anything that might help." Naruto said.

Heading up to his room, Naruto changed into his pajamas as quickly as his injured hand would allow, and crawled into bed. "For future reference?"

"_Yes_?" Responded the Kyuubi.

"Remind me I'm still short before I go doing anything based around height or reach, alright?"

"_Duly noted, kid_."

Sighing, and trying to get settled in, Naruto couldn't help but glance out the window. Though he couldn't see the moon from where he was, a flicker of a memory washing over him made him glad of that fact. Uchiha Madara... it would be awhile before he would get his chance to properly fight that man, and he needed to be better prepared. He didn't care if his smaller body protested. He was going to get as strong as he needed to be. No more deaths, no more lingering memories, no more feelings of sickness and depression that came with seeing people he barely knew.

It would start the next day, if all went well. From that point on, he just had to go with the flow. If he were in any mood to laugh, he would have at the absurdity of it all.

Eyes closing, Naruto murmured, "And try to keep me from killing Sasuke. Don't think Sakura would like that very much."

"_Also duly noted. Get some sleep_."

"Working on it."

"_Remember - clear your mind. Focus on the blackness of your eyelids. Picture yourself in an empty, quiet field. Nothing but the wind and the sounds of nature. This time will be different. This time, we will not fail. I'll tell you the same thing I told your older self once - I do **not **like losing. When Uchiha Madara comes, we'll be ready. This time, **his **soul will be ripped away from the rest of existence_."

"Nn..."

The Kyuubi stared out through the bars of the cage it was locked in. With a low growl, it lowered its head. Eyes closing as well, the Kyuubi rumbled, "This time, no one defeats us."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

**Author's Notes**: Oh side projects, why can I not work on you more effortlessly?

So here's chapter 3. As of next chapter, we'll see if the teams remain the same, or if things playing out slightly different has made any sort of impact. Naruto continues to sway between his natural emotions and those of his older self, and the memories passed along will haunt him for years to come.

I need to sit down and do what I normally do with long stories - write out long summaries of each chapter in one long guide to follow. I normally end up having to rewrite those as the story goes and I forgot or add things, but it keeps me focused on where I'm going, so I don't go off track and ramble too long. This chapter, for instance, would've been out far sooner if the last little bit hadn't gotten away from me. With any luck, it won't be so long between chapters this time.

That said, my birthday approaches. Etrian Odyssey 3 may yet devour my soul. Oh, and I'll put this here like I plan to do in the next chapter of Fear Within, my other ongoing story - I have a twitter and a formspring account, just in case there are any questions. Both are in my profile. The twitter account is mostly me ranting about games or writer's block, but update alerts do come out there. So if you have any questions, fire away.

Until next time, boys and girls.


	4. Team 7

"I exist... only for that reason!"

Those were the last words he had uttered before the impact had sucked the life from his body. The psychotic look in his eyes dulled and soon became completely empty. The body that had been moving around at such high speeds came to a crashing halt, slammed and drilled into the side of the mountain. For a moment, his body hung in the crater. Then, slowly, it peeled away and collapsed to the ground. Revenge had consumed him so utterly that he felt required to constantly seek out something to destroy. And, through that very same faulty reasoning, he had met his end. Blood rapidly poured from the gaping hole that had been twisted into the front of his body, staining the ground crimson.

Falling to the ground as well, Naruto stared at the lifeless body of Uchiha Sasuke. His own body was trembling from the limits he had been forced to go to to meet the Sharingan-user's power. A power that had been acquired through ill means. A power that was beyond him. A power that had ultimately helped cause his downfall. Feeling the bile rise in his throat, Naruto lurched forward, coughing violently and grinding his fingers into the dirt as his body shook.

When the heaving finally came to a halt, Naruto pushed himself to his feet. As he shakily made his way across the battlefield to where his former friend and teammate was lying, his hands clenched into fists. This wasn't how it was supposed to have ended! This wasn't the way he had wanted to put a stop to Sasuke's seemingly endless thirst for revenge! Tears welled up in his eyes as he finally reached Sasuke's body and, once more, he dropped to the ground. Reaching his hand out slowly, he moved to put it on his friend's back, where the symbol of his clan still stood unmarked by their fight.

Suddenly, one of Sasuke's hands shot up, gripping at Naruto's arm so hard it drew blood. A gurgling, rattling breath was sucked in as his other hand moved up to grab hold of Naruto's shirt. And, as he lifted his head, his eyes spun to life for a brief instant longer. Blood pouring from the corners of his lips, Sasuke drew another rasping breath in, opened his mouth, and screamed.

He wasn't sure where Sasuke's scream had ended and where his own had begun. But as he jerked awake in bed, sitting bolt upright, Uzumaki Naruto felt a panic unlike any he'd ever experienced in his life. The scream came to an abrupt halt, however, as his stomach gave an almighty churn. Slamming a hand over his mouth, Naruto ripped the covers back and shot towards the bathroom in the dark, scrambling to make it over either the sink or the toilet before his body gave up on him.

The sink was the unfortunate victim this time, gripped by shaky hands as his dinner came up. His head was pounding, and he could almost make out what sounded like the Kyuubi trying to say something to him. But once more, the words were muted by the memories lashing at his consciousness. Every breath was accompanied by a horrible retching cough, and by the time he had finished vomiting, he felt as though he would pass out at any moment.

Turning on the water, Naruto quickly scooped up a handful to wash his mouth out before making sure the sick had been cleared from the basin. When he raised his head, he found himself staring into the mirror over the sink. He was a ghostly white, sweating profusely, and was still shaking just as badly as he had been when his stomach had decided to kick back its contents. His breathing was coming in sharp, ragged bursts, and he was feeling lightheaded. It was then that the Kyuubi's voice started to come into focus, though it was booming so loud that it almost made him double over again.

'-_up! It was just a memory! You won't have to see that this time! We'll figure out a way to stop him without killing him! You need to slow your breathing down or you're going to hyperventilate. And if you pass out before your stomach's decided to stop rebelling, you could choke yourself to death! Are you listening_?'

"Shut up..." whimpered Naruto, letting go of the sink, turning around, and slumping to the floor. He drew his legs up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them, and lowered his head. "Too loud."

'_Good, you're paying attention. I know what you saw. I know how you feel. And I know what you're thinking. But going after Orochimaru now wouldn't stop anything. Going after Pain now wouldn't stop anything. And if we tried taking on Uchiha Madara right now, we would die in an instant! One thing at a time, kid. We have to start small_.'

"Hate him. S'all his fault." Naruto hissed out, desperately trying to control his breathing.

'_He'll get what's coming to him_.' Growled the Kyuubi, its voice getting low. '_Uchiha Madara will suffer endlessly for what he's done to us_.'

"Not him!" Barked Naruto, immediately regretting his outburst. His stomach hitched, and he went very still, sucking in a slow, deep breath. Letting it out just as slowly, he continued in a softer voice, "Meant Sasuke."

'_Yes, the boy's no better than the adults. Hounded by some sense of injustice until his death. Nothing will change that. We won't kill him, but we may have to cripple him. The question is - in what manner? Destroying his legs would keep him from being too mobile. Destroying his arms would keep him from being able to form the necessary seals. Destroying his eyes_...'

"Can you _please _stop talking about cutting up that idiot?" Yelled Naruto, not caring what his stomach did. "I'm trying not to puke my internal organs up here, dammit!"

'..._Then what do you suggest we discuss_?'

"Nothing! Just let me sit here and try to make sense of what I just saw!" Naruto said, his voice dropping to an almost inaudible level halfway through the sentence.

'..._I am sorry. At times, it is difficult to remember that you are still young and inexperienced. Your older self was tempered by war. By the end, nothing fazed him anymore. And here you are, forced to try and get a handle on the things that, to him, had dulled to the point of inconsequentiality. You're right, of course. The memories of the Uchiha brat must be flooding in now that his death has shown itself to you. I will be silent unless you wish to speak. Though I will suggest one thing - get dressed and go outside. The night air will do your sore throat a world of good_.'

The Kyuubi went quiet after that, leaving Naruto alone with his thoughts. Minutes passed slowly, feeling like hours, before he decided to take the Kyuubi up on its suggestion. Getting back to his feet slowly, Naruto shifted his weight around a little. Upon seeing that he was getting steadier, he nodded to himself and began undoing the buttons to his pajama top. Fresh air would do him some good, he decided, moving to a window and opening it. It was a chilly morning, but the crisp air felt like it cleansed him as the gentle wind blew in. He stuck his head out and pulled in a long, slow breath through his mouth. It felt good against his ravaged throat, though he winced at how cold it was.

Stepping away from the window, he slipped off his top and peeled off his bottoms, heading for his dresser and pulling out his new outfit. After quickly changing and going downstairs to grab his shoes, Naruto launched himself from his open window, quickly getting onto the rooftops and pausing to take a look around town. Though the town had been rebuilt after Pain's attack, it had never been quite the same. This time, he wouldn't allow the town he loved so much to be turned into a crater. He would go with Jiraiya and stop Pain before he got a chance to strike Konoha.

Eyes narrowing slightly, his head turned in the direction he knew Sasuke's house was in. For a long while, he stared off toward it, the only movement caused by the winds picking up and whipping at his clothing. The memories were still swarming him, though he had already seen the worst of them. He was trying to take in and categorize everything, but it was still a bit much to handle all at once. Things were playing out backwards to how his older self had experienced them. He needed to intercept Sasuke at just the right time and deal with him. After Itachi, but before Hebi was formed.

He would bring Sasuke back even if he had to break every bone in his body to do it. Slowly walking toward the end of the house he was on, he shoved his hands into his pockets. Everything he had done, he had done for her. In the end, he hadn't been able to keep his promise. That, almost over everything else, had never sat well with him. Sasuke's death had come after Sakura's, so she had never known what the Uchiha boy's fate had ultimately been. Perhaps, he thought, looking around the city once more before jumping to the next house and breaking into a sprint, it had been for the better that way. It was a selfish thing, he realized, but he was almost glad that he hadn't had to return from that fight, only to see the look in her eyes.

Though the two had eventually become a couple, it wasn't a long-lasting one. War had breached the town's walls again and she had been one of the many victims. It was shortly after that that he had gone on the run. Madara was doing everything he could to reach Naruto by that point. It had been an incredibly foolish idea, staying in Konoha in some ridiculous attempt to protect it. He hadn't been ready for what had marched on the town, and he had lost everything because of it. Had he been on the run before Madara decided to mobilize, the town might have been spared. There was no way of knowing, of course. Either Madara had destroyed Konoha to find Naruto, or he had done it just to torment him.

Dropping into a crouch at the end of another rooftop, Naruto stared across the road with an almost lost look on his face. There, behind the sliding door and the pulled-down blinds, she was sleeping. Still alive, still in love with Sasuke, and still innocent. As he stared at the wall as though trying to see through it, Naruto let out a shaky sigh. Would he even be able to get close to her this time around? If he managed to bring Sasuke back, then what? He would keep trying to leave. He would keep trying to get stronger. He would keep being driven by revenge. If Naruto handed him over to the right people, he was certain the boy could be brainwashed into behaving himself. But would it really still be Sasuke afterwards? Would he still act the same, only without his insane drive fueling him? How differently would he be if he were to take that route? Would Sakura hate him if he were to do that? Would she turn and try to help Sasuke settle down? Would helping Sasuke end up causing him to lose having another chance to be with Sakura altogether?

"It's heavy..." Naruto whispered, his words being stolen away by the winds.

'_That is the burden you carry_.' Replied the Kyuubi, its gruff voice quiet as well. '_Yes, you have the knowledge of future events. But changing the slightest thing could throw it all into chaos. If you save him, the Haruno girl might want to stay and be with him. But if you kill him, she would hate you. No matter what you do, you run the risk of losing her again. If we kill Orochimaru when he attacks during the Genin exams, then Sasuke will have nowhere to turn. But Sasuke would be able to take out both Itachi and Orochimaru for us. We would only need to find Kabuto afterwards. But if we do that,_ _then will Madara turn to someone else for assistance in the end? If we round up the other tailed beasts and their vessels, what would we do when Akatsuki started going after them? Would Madara be able to do anything if all nine tailed beasts stood against him at once? The decisions we make are going to make or break things. We cannot diverge too much or we lose our advantage. We cannot let things play out as they did the first time for too long or else we risk failing. The burden is a great one, kid._ _I have no doubt that you are the only one who could handle this kind of strain_.'

"Saying I'm handling it doesn't cover things very well." Murmured Naruto. "Do you have any idea how painful this is? How much I want to go in there, wake her up, and just explain everything? How much I want to hold her again? She's going to look at me with that same expression on her face when we go to try capturing Sasuke. She's going to look at me with that same expression, just barely hiding how upset she really is, when she finds out we failed our mission. I can't stand the thought of seeing that look on her face again. I want her to be happy, yes, but..."

'_You want that happiness to be with you, not him_.'

"Yeah. I'll be able to lie convincingly enough if things go south. She'll never see how much it hurts if she chooses him over me. I won't let her. Even if it isn't with me, I want her to be happy. Even if I wind up alone, as long as everyone else is alive and well, then I've succeeded. It doesn't make it any easier, but knowing how many lives I've saved; knowing how many people will still be able to smile and laugh and continue living... that'll be enough to help keep me going."

'_I daresay that excluding yourself from the happiness you seek to restore is going about things in the wrong way_.' The Kyuubi said. '_You shouldn't give up on yourself. What good is coming back and putting ourselves through this nightmare if we can't also enjoy peace in the end? What good is saving the rest of these people if you cannot sleep at night_?'

"This was never about my future. It's about theirs." Naruto said, pushing himself up finally. Still gazing down at Sakura's bedroom window, his eyes closed and he murmured, "I'll get by fine on my own if I have to. If nothing else, I've always been a convincing actor. If I don't want anyone to see me in pain, then that's what will happen. No one was ever able to see through that mask in the past. I don't see why things would be different this time."

'_If you say so. Though I feel, as we begin to make more and more changes, your stance will change_.'

"Maybe so." Naruto said, eyes opening as he hopped off the roof. When he landed on the ground, he switched to mentally conversing with the Kyuubi. '_Heading for the Academy. No point in staying out in this wind. The town's already starting to wake up. Might as well sit in class and worry about whether the teams will be the same_...'

'_We can only hope. We've not changed things much thus far. Hopefully things will play out the same way for this. And this, at the very least, will allow you to both keep an eye on the Uchiha brat and be close to the Haruno girl_.'

'_I need to change myself enough that she accepts me sooner. The hardest part of that's going to be trying to be civil around Sasuke. I don't want to kill him... but I'd be perfectly happy crippling him for the rest of his life_.' Naruto said, biting at his lower lip as he walked. '_Here, let's get back on that subject. Help me burn off this anger before class begins. I need to be able to be calm when the teams are announced_...'

'_As you wish. Starting on your meditation is the first part of fixing this imbalance you have at the moment_...'

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Showing up so early, Naruto was the first person to arrive at the Academy for some time. The building was still silent, and it would be a bit longer before the teachers showed their heads. In fact, Naruto was counting on this fact, as it gave him more time to try and focus. At the very least, it would give him time to squash his anger down. That's what he was really worried about, though he wasn't entirely sure why. Even to the end, he knew his future self still considered Team 7 a thing. He never once let the idea of the team's destruction enter his mind, even when he had been the only one left alive.

Walking to his normal spot, Naruto unceremoniously flopped down into his seat, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling. The tightness in his chest hadn't left, either, though he wasn't entirely sure what he could do to ease that particular pain. There was still so much to do, and he had to try and break it all down into manageable bits. Thinking of Sakura hurt, but it also made him think about Sasuke, which only served to dredge up more anger. And while he had tried not to think of either of them on his way to the Academy, the teams being announced that day made it difficult.

"C'mon, help me focus. You mentioned meditation..." He said, keeping his voice down.

'_Yes. Your older self took to it quite well in his later years_.' Said the Kyuubi. '_It's simple, really. Close your eyes_.'

Naruto did as he was told, leaning forward against the desk. "Now what?"

'_Now slow your breathing down. Deep breathing is key, and it's going to help you focus yourself. Once you've done that, imagine yourself in a large, empty room_.'

'_Large, empty room_,' Naruto responded mentally. He pictured a room much like his own bedroom, though without any furniture in it. '_Why a large, empty room_?'

'_It's going to help in sorting your memories. This will, with any luck, help you to at least minimize the impact your future self's experiences have on you. What you need to do is picture doors. The doors will also lead to large, empty rooms. You'll want to sort your memories into these rooms. When you've got them all sorted, your head will feel much clearer. Once the memories are packed away, you can also seal them off with the proper preparation_.' Explained the Kyuubi.

'_Yeah, this is gonna take awhile. Barely took in any of that_.' Naruto thought, making a bit of a face.

'_To be expected. It will take time and practice. When we have free time, we will work on it. This will include an hour leading up to bed. That way, you can sort the day's memories away and it should allow you to sleep without incident_.'

'_If it means not waking up and having to scramble to the bathroom to throw up, I'm all for that_...' Thought Naruto, a hand moving to his stomach. '_I'll do what it takes, though. I don't want to see things like that. I know I need to _know_ about them, but experiencing them firsthand like that is... hard_...'

'_Indeed it is_.' Said the Kyuubi. '_Now then, while we have time, let's continue_...'

For the next half hour, Naruto sat perfectly still, his attention almost solely on his memories. The Kyuubi was being almost surprisingly patient with him as he worked out how to set things up. Once he had figured out the basics, however, he realized it wasn't going to be anywhere near as difficult as it had sounded. Happy memories went behind the door with 'Happy' written on it. Sad memories went behind the door with 'Sad' written on it. Sasuke memories went behind the door with 'Giant, egotistical, pigheaded asshole' on it.

And though Naruto was focused on sorting his brain out, he wasn't tuning out the world around him entirely. He could sense Iruka approaching and, when the man actually entered the classroom, Naruto stopped sorting memories and just sat at his desk. His eyes remained closed and he was still leaning forward, and he hoped it would seem as though he was simply trying not to fall asleep. Iruka paused for a moment after entering, no doubt surprised at seeing Naruto in the class before anyone else, before heading to his desk at the front of the room.

After shuffling some papers around and taking his seat, Iruka turned and glanced over at the blond. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Nightmares again." Naruto said. At least this time, he thought, he wasn't lying. "Woke up and nearly got sick all over the bed. Barely made it into the bathroom."

"Anything you feel like talking about?" Asked Iruka.

"Not unless you want to be mopping the floor when everyone else gets here." Replied Naruto, opening his eyes and giving his teacher a smirk.

"I'll pass, thanks." Iruka said, rolling his eyes. "Why'd you come here, though? I don't think you've ever arrived before me."

Shrugging, Naruto told the man the truth. "Decided to get out of my room for awhile. The cold air felt really good on my sore throat. It was close enough to morning that I figured I'd just wait it out in here. Didn't want to head home so soon, anyway. Left my window open to air the room out while I was gone."

Iruka nodded. "Alright, then. Looking forward to hearing what team you're on?"

"I can probably guess who I'll be stuck with." Naruto said, giving Iruka the evil eye. "If you didn't pair me up with that idiot Sasuke, I'll be stunned."

"Honestly, I wish I could make you two get along..." Iruka said, blowing out a sigh.

"C'mon, Iruka-sensei, can't you gimme a hint or somethin'? No one else is here! Tell me what team I'm on!" Said Naruto, grinning at Iruka hopefully.

"Nope!" Chirped Iruka almost as soon as his student had finished speaking. "You'll find out when the others get here and not a moment before."

"Ahh, you suck." Naruto groused. There went trying to quell his fears early. "Oh well, it was worth a try, I guess."

After that, Naruto and Iruka made small talk until the other students began filtering into the classroom. Most of it had to do with how well Naruto was taking care of himself, though Naruto also got in a few questions here and there. Those were mainly concerned with how well Iruka's wounds were healing. Iruka dismissed his worries, saying that the staff at the hospital had him healed up in no time flat. It had looked far worse than it actually had been, apparently. And, despite the fact that the room was filling up, somehow the conversation had taken a turn toward Naruto's gardening skills.

"Look, I just don't think they're growing." He had said, shaking his head. "I put them in the window, I'm keeping them watered, but they just aren't coming up."

"Did you add any of that plant food I gave you?" Asked Iruka. "That might speed them along."

"Did that." Naruto said. "I dunno, maybe it's just a bad spot. They aren't really getting a ton of light in the kitchen. Would it help adding more fertilizer?"

"Not on the herbs, it'll affect their flavor." Iruka said. "Yeah, try moving them to a better spot and see if that helps. Who knows, it might just be a bad bunch. You get those every so often. Stubborn things just don't want to grow. Have you had any problems with bugs?"

"Not yet, but I haven't seen many bugs lately, period." Naruto said. "Probably a few months away from them getting really bad. Also, everyone's staring at us. Might wanna get started, Iruka-sensei."

"What? Oh! Right." Iruka said, blinking as he realized that the class was indeed watching their conversation with utterly baffled expressions. "What? I taught him how to grow his own herbs. The boy can't sustain himself purely on ramen..."

Naruto made a face at Iruka. "Not for lack of trying."

"Not for lack of trying, yes." Iruka repeated, getting to his feet and grabbing at one of the papers on his desk. "Now then, today's the day I'm sure you all have been waiting for! You'll soon be assigned missions by the village. To take these, you genin will need to have a jounin watching over you. In addition, you'll be split up into three-man teams. You'll follow your jounin instructor's orders as you do your work for the village. We've gone through your scores and have split you up into groups we think can work well with one another..."

Naruto went tense as Iruka walked around to the front of his desk, glancing down at the paper in front of him once more. This was it. Team 7 would be listed soon. If anything was going to happen at this point, everything would be thrown into chaos. If things changed this early on, then his future self's sacrifice would have been for nothing. Time slowed to a crawl for Naruto who, despite initially attempting to focus, was letting it get the better of him.

He saw, rather than heard, Iruka say Sakura's name, then his own. Then there was the seemingly infinite pause before the man said Sasuke's name.

Naruto didn't even bother registering Sakura's excited outburst, so relieved was he that his own team, at the very least, would remain the same. As it turned out, however, his wasn't the only one. Whatever impact the slight change during his fight with Mizuki had brought about, switching up the teams that comprised the future Konoha 11 wasn't a part of it. For now, though, it was still at 12, and that was how Naruto was hoping to keep it this time.

"And just why," said Sasuke, suddenly, "do I have to be on the same team as _him_?"

Iruka looked over their way, smirking faintly. "Because his grades were dead last... up until very recently, anyway. And yours were the top among all 27 graduates. We had to do things this way to balance the teams out."

Sasuke glanced aside at Naruto for a moment before scoffing. "Just don't get in my way, dead last."

"Says the guy who felt it necessary to upstage the 'dead last' during the Bunshin test." Naruto said, smiling sweetly at Sasuke, who sent a glare his way.

"Knock it off, you two." Iruka said. Raising his voice to get the class' attention back on him, he continued, "This afternoon, you'll be introduced to the jounin assigned to your teams. Until then, you're free to do what you want."

The tension in the room lifted with these words, with most of the students immediately getting up to join their new teammates. Naruto, however, needed to get out of the classroom for awhile. He needed a bit of fresh air, and being around Sasuke was already starting to grate on his nerves. That, and he had had a flash of something that was about to happen while he and Sasuke had been arguing. Or, at the very least, something that _had _happened during his older self's timeline.

And, despite knowing exactly how it was going to play out, he knew it was something he needed to do.

With a sigh, he got what he needed and waited for the right moment to strike. Sasuke still left himself unguarded while eating, and Naruto was going to take advantage of that. And while Naruto could perfectly change his appearance to that of the Uchiha's without dragging him off and tying him up, it wouldn't be as much fun. Aside from trying to play things out as closely as they had originally, Naruto had two other reasons for wanting to do this. The first was that he simply wanted an excuse to drag Sasuke off and tie his smug ass up for awhile. The second was that he wanted to gauge if his personality change had been noticed at all by Sakura.

Minutes later, he was smirking down at an angry, hogtied Uchiha Sasuke. "Now stay there and be a good boy until I get back and I _might _untie you if you ask me nicely enough." He said. Bringing his hands up, he transformed his appearance into that of Sasuke's. With one last smirk over his shoulder, Naruto launched himself out of the window and down to street level.

'_Don't like looking like that idiot_.' Naruto thought as he bounded across the rooftops.

'_No, but it was enjoyable to get the better of him like this_.' Said the Kyuubi.

'_Yes. Yes it did. ...Damn, there she is. What do I do_?'

'_Follow my instructions_...'

Naruto landed behind a tree, peeking around at Sakura, who was sitting on a nearby bench, staring down at the ground. Once he was sure she wasn't going to look his way, he slipped around the tree, crossed his arms, and leaned back against it. He looked her way and did his best 'smug jackass' face, which felt decidedly odd. He got the feeling that he should have practiced a bit before landing. When she finally noticed him, he pushed himself away from the tree and walked over to her.

"Have I ever said just how much I've wanted to kiss your forehead?" Naruto asked, hoping his damnedest that the Kyuubi wasn't just pulling his tail so he'd make an ass of himself. "Pff... man, that really sounds like something Naruto would say..."

Sakura seemed slightly put out by the way he had finished speaking, and glanced down again. Hesitating for only a moment, the disguised Naruto sat down on the bench next to Sakura. "Hey, there's something I want to ask you."

"What is it?" She asked, looking up at 'Sasuke' hopefully.

"What do you think about Naruto, anyway? We're stuck on the same team together, after all."

Sakura looked back at the ground, brow creased for a moment before she started speaking. Naruto tried to brace himself for the impact he knew was coming. "He doesn't know anything about me, but he acts all weird around me. I don't get it at all. It's like he was put here just to get in my way... especially around you."

Swallowing hard, Naruto managed to find his voice and ask, "Around me?"

"All I want is for you to acknowledge me." She said, turning to face him. And, glancing up at him through her eyelashes, she continued, "I like you, Sasuke-kun..."

Glancing off, Naruto forced himself to keep his expression neutral. He wasn't gaining any ground, but he sure as hell wasn't going to give that idiot Sasuke any help, either. "He's been acting strange lately, though. Have you noticed?"

Sakura blinked at this, obviously not expecting the conversation to go back to Naruto. "Strange? How so?"

Naruto shrugged. "He's gotten quieter. And he made a proper Bunshin during the test. It just seems like there's something strange going on with him, that's all. He's always trying to talk to you. I thought you might know."

"If he said anything, I wasn't listening." Sakura said. "As far as I'm concerned, he's still as annoying as always."

Naruto stood up at that point. "Class will resume soon. We should get back."

"I'll come with you, then!" Sakura said, hopping up and moving beside 'Sasuke,' only to see him focusing very intently on a spot in the distance. She turned her head, but didn't see anything interesting off that way. When she went to look back, however, she found that he had vanished in the split second she had looked away. With a defeated sigh, Sakura began muttering to herself as she headed back for the Academy.

Naruto had ditched the transformation as soon as he was out of view of Sakura, vaulting his way back for the Academy as quickly as he dared to let himself move. He was only vaguely keeping track of where he was, though, as he was too busy trying to file away the new memories near the old ones so that he wouldn't have to think about them. Even bracing himself, that had hurt to hear. It hurt even more knowing the other half of the conversation that was probably taking place as he was leaping across the city's rooftops.

One night, his future self had been awakened by a nightmare. At his side at the time, Sakura had stayed up to try and calm his nerves and comfort him. She had talked about the past and had brought up the conversation she had had with Sasuke the day they had been assigned to Team 7. Naruto had laughed at that, asking if she had known that the first Sasuke she had seen that day had been him. She admitted that, at some point after he had left to train with Jiraiya, she had spent a lot time thinking of the past. That particular incident had always stood out to her. The first time she had seen Sasuke, he had been talking almost exclusively about Naruto. And the second, he had completely shut her feelings down by calling her annoying.

When he reached the roof of the Academy, he stopped to lean forward, panting heavily. When he looked up, it was to see Sasuke standing there, looking as far from amused as he possibly could have. Pushing himself back up straight, Naruto forced himself to smirk. "Looks like you managed to untie yourself."

"Those pathetic excuses for knots wouldn't keep anything tied up for long, dead last."

"You got here fast. Happen to run across Sakura-chan?" Asked Naruto, thinking it was a little strange that Sasuke had caught up to him already.

A shadow passed over Sasuke's eyes for a moment. When it left, he let out a noncommital noise and shoved Naruto aside, heading for the door. That told Naruto all he needed to know. Must have been a much shorter conversation than his older self had thought. For now, Naruto followed behind Sasuke at a distance, trying not to use the fan on the back of his future enemy's shirt as target practice for a well-placed Rasengan.

When they re-entered the classroom, it was to find many of the other students already loitering around, waiting for class to pick up again. Sakura was one of the last to arrive, and Naruto glanced her way long enough to see the hurt look in her eyes as she sat down. Immediately, a fire bubbled up from somewhere behind his stomach, and it took a great deal of willpower to not pivot and slam his fist into the side of Sasuke's head as hard as he possibly could.

'_He'll get his, in the end_.' The Kyuubi growled. '_We'll find a way to drag him back whether he wants to return or not. He won't get a warrior's death this time. You're getting too riled up. Focus. Remember what we did earlier_.'

Naruto closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing down, but it took a lot of effort on his part. He didn't want to be calm. He wanted to chuck Sasuke off the Hokage Monument and count how long it took for him to hit the pavement. But he did as the Kyuubi asked, as he knew it would only be a matter of time before he got to burn off some of his anger in a constructive way. As time passed, the jounin assigned to watch over the genin arrived and departed with their new students. In the end, it was only Team 7 left behind, with even Iruka heading home for the day after wishing them luck.

The silence in the room was heavy after Iruka left, however. Naruto knew he should have been up, preparing a prank, but he just didn't feel in the mood for it. He did get to his feet to check out in the hall, despite knowing Kakashi wouldn't be arriving for some time. Blowing out a frustrated sigh, he went over and sat down in Iruka's chair, letting it spin him around a few times as he stared up at the ceiling.

'_Look on the bright side. The teams remained the same. That's one more major hurdle down_.' Said the Kyuubi.

'_Yeah, but now we have to worry about the same teams passing the next set of obstacles in their way. What if one of them doesn't make it? That's going to throw things way off_.' Naruto retorted.

'_We'll deal with those issues if and when we have to. For now, try to let yourself relax. And stop thinking about showing off at the training ground. You can burn off some of your aggression against Hatake Kakashi, but you're not going to pull any stunts_.'

'_Of course I won't be pulling any stunts_.' Thought Naruto. '_Kakashi'd report back to the Third, and then we'd be in trouble. Aside from that, I don't want that idiot Sasuke knowing my tricks before I'm good and ready for him to. Still gonna get a bell this time. Same damn tactic I told Sakura about in the future. Er... the past? Man, I hate time travel_.'

'_Spoiling the ending to his book_?' Asked the Kyuubi.

'_He won't be expecting it, that's for sure. Just gotta get him serious enough to show off his left eye_.' Naruto explained.

'_Heh. The others won't have any idea_...'

'_That's part of the fun_.'

"If you make yourself sick doing that, you're cleaning it up yourself." Sakura finally commented, having gotten dizzy watching Naruto spin himself around in Iruka's chair.

"I don't get dizzy." Naruto replied, smiling at the girl. "At least, not like this I don't."

"You're weird, has anyone ever told you that?"

"Plenty." Said Naruto.

"And it doesn't bother you?"

"Why should it? People have been calling me names since I was little for some reason. I've gotten used to it." Naruto explained. Finally, he hopped out of Iruka's chair and went back to check the door. "Seriously, where the heck's this Kakashi guy at, anyway? Did he get lost or somethin'?"

"Would you stay still?" Sakura said, rolling her eyes.

"Staying still's boring." Naruto said, proceeding to park himself on the floor just a few feet away from the door, sitting very still. "...Wonder if I should put an eraser on top of the door. Whenever Kakashi-sensei gets here, he'd open the door and it'd bounce off his head."

"A jounin wouldn't fall for such a stupid trick." Sasuke muttered.

"You'd be surprised..." Naruto replied, grinning crookedly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asked Sasuke, cracking an eye open.

Naruto was about to reply when the door opened. This time, Naruto was ready for the onslaught of painful memories that came slamming into him from out of nowhere. He closed his eyes and started to file the memories away behind the 'future' door, slamming it shut when they had passed him by. He still felt winded by the experience, but at least he wasn't feeling nauseated this time. When he opened his eyes, it was to find Kakashi surveying the three of them.

"Hm... how should I say this..." He began. "My first impression of you is..."

"Lousy?" Suggested Naruto, smirking up at the man. "C'mon, we sat around patiently this entire time while we waited for you! Give us some credit for that, at least!"

Kakashi looked down at Naruto, and he could almost feel the man's Sharingan spinning away behind his forehead protector. Finally, a chuckle. "Alright, you three, follow me."

"Where are we going?" Asked Sakura.

"Up to the roof. Proper introductions are in order." Kakashi said, turning and heading out of the room, motioning for the three genin to follow.

'_Gonna enjoy the rest of this week_.' Naruto thought as he hopped to his feet and bounded off after the jounin. '_We're gonna have _fun...'

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

**Author's Notes**: And so, I've finally gotten off my lazy ass and finished another chapter. Will wonders never cease?

The Teams remain the same, but does that mean everything within them will still play out the same way? There's only so much Naruto can do on his own, after all. He's lucked out thus far, but there's still a lot that could go wrong at any given time. The road ahead is still almost unfathomably long.

The next test, of course... is getting the bells.

I've got a few ideas, including a huge bit that'll never make the final cut just because Naruto goes pretty all-out against Kakashi and it entirely didn't feel right at ALL. So it'll get scaled back a bit. As Naruto said, he doesn't want to show off his entire bag of tricks in front of Sasuke this early in the game.

Until next time, folks. Which, hopefully, won't take quite this long.


	5. Echoes

"Okay, how about we start with some introductions. What do you like? What do you hate? What are your dreams for the future? What do you like to do? You're working together from now on. You'll get to know each other eventually, but it helps to have an idea of what direction you plan to take your lives in." Kakashi stated, walking over to the roof's railing and leaning back against it.

"Oi oi, why don't you introduce yourself first?" Naruto suggested, giving Kakashi a wary look and trying to bite back a smile.

"You do look... suspicious..." Sakura said, her voice quiet.

"Hmm... very well. My name is Hatake Kakashi, and I have absolutely no desire to tell you guys about what I like and what I don't. I have a lot of hobbies, and as for the future... hm..." Kakashi trailed off, gazing at the sky with his head cocked to one side.

"...We already knew his name." Muttered Sakura.

"Now it's your turn. Let's start on the left." Kakashi said, snapping his attention back to the present and looking down at Sakura.

"Me? Uh..." Sakura squeaked, not expecting to go first. "W-well, my name is Haruno Sakura, and I like... I like..." She let out an embarrassed giggle, before flipping around completely and in an almost deadpan tone continued, "What I hate... is Naruto. My hobby is..."

Naruto winced at this, making a face but trying not to make too much of it. It was just how she was at the start, after all. Naruto knew they'd grow closer eventually. It was still incredibly annoying to hear, though. Something behind the mental door marked with 'Older Self' was trying to break free, and he was having to focus considerably to keep from seeing it. It wouldn't do to have an episode here in front of Kakashi and his team, after all.

'_Going to be okay_?' Asked the Kyuubi.

'_Depends_.' Naruto replied mentally, listening idly as Sakura rambled on. '_Hey, I'm starting to have second thoughts about this_...'

'_Which part_?'

'_Not making any changes. If we're too scared to change anything, then when will we know when to act_?' Asked Naruto.

'_We'll know. Why? Are you thinking about doing something differently?_'

'_I dunno. Keep arguing with myself about it. Literally, most of the time. I have a few ideas, but...'_

The Kyuubi let out a sudden growl. '_Hold on. The Uchiha brat is up_...'

Naruto's focus shifted back to what was going on around him, and he glanced aside at Sasuke just in time to see him start talking. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke," he began, his tone as dark as ever, "I don't like anything in particular, but there are plenty of things I hate. I stopped 'dreaming' about things a long time ago, but... I do have a few goals in life. I want to resurrect my clan... and I want to kill a certain man."

Naruto tried to stop himself, he honestly did. Even with the Kyuubi roaring for him to keep his mouth shut, the words slipped out before he could react. "And what good will that do? You kill him and then what? Then you're a murderer. Would it stop with just him? Would anyone who stood in your way end up dead, too?"

Sasuke's head snapped to the side, eyes narrowed to slits. "Keep your mouth shut about things you don't understand, dead last."

"_Uchiha Itachi_." Hissed Naruto, returning the glare. For his part, Sasuke had the decency to look surprised. "Why the shocked look? You think I don't know about you guys already? Contrary to what you think, I'm not an idiot. I've done my homework about all three of you. I know exactly what you're after, Sasuke."

"You know nothing about me." Growled Sasuke, getting to his feet.

"Don't I?" Naruto replied, standing as well and stepping up so he was almost touching his teammate. "You live alone because your family is dead, murdered by your brother's hands. You and I are alike in that regard, aren't we? Neither of us have anyone we can depend on. Or rather, neither of us _had _anyone we could depend on. Make no mistake about it, I don't like you, Sasuke."

"Don't compare the two of us!" Snapped Sasuke. "We're nothing alike!"

"Oh, we're about as far apart as can be. I'm just saying that I know what it's like to be alone, too." Naruto said, crossing his arms. "And as I said... I don't like you. But I would still die to keep you safe. We're teammates now. You know what that means? It means neither of us are alone anymore."

This, for some reason, seemed to cause Sasuke to falter. He blinked a few times, brow creased, as though trying to figure out what on earth he was staring at. This wasn't where he had expected this conversation to go. There was a fierce look in Naruto's eyes that sent a chill down Sasuke's spine. He wasn't sure why, but seeing the class clown suddenly get so serious and break out knowledge that he had kept secret all those years unnerved him.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto," continued the blond, keeping eye contact with the Uchiha the entire time. "My favorite food is ramen, I enjoy gardening in my spare time, and my dream used to be to become the Hokage and make everyone in this town acknowledge me. I'll still gain their acknowledgement, but I'll do it by protecting this town with my life. If anything happens to this place, I'll be there along with those jerks who've spent their entire lives looking down on me and calling me names. This town means more to me than I could ever express in words. I won't lose it for anything!"

'_**HOLD YOUR TONGUE**_!' Snarled the Kyuubi. '_You've spoken of being terrified of causing changes, yet this is what you do_?'

'_I know what I'm doing_.' Naruto replied. But his voice sounded... older, almost. '_Yes, I'm scared of making changes. But unless I make changes, everything stays the same. I'm letting that idiot know from the outset that I'd be willing to die for him. You saw the look on his face. It was like my older self was guiding me along as I spoke. My heart's pounding, and there are butterflies in my stomach... but it's a good feeling. I'm tired of feeling sick all the time! I won't hide anymore, fox. We move right now because there's a lot we have to setup before Orochimaru marches on my town_.'

There was a low, rumbling growl and then, '_Pray you choose wisely, then. If we skew things too greatly at this point, then we lose our one advantage. Never forget that_!'

'_I don't plan on it_.' Naruto said. '_My older self hid his true emotions from everyone around him. He didn't act until it was too late. He refused to do what needed to be done. I've seen the ruin that was brought from that. I won't let it happen a second time_!'

Finally closing his eyes, Naruto turned away from Sasuke and went to lean against the railing behind where the team was sitting. His eyes scanned over the town, memories of the giant crater it had once been flickering through his mind. "I don't care if you plan to kill your brother. If you want help, all you have to do is ask. He was a brother from another lifetime. I'm the only brother you have now. We're family, and I'm going to treat you like it. I'm sorry if you don't like that. I'm tired of watching you sit around looking miserable all the time."

"I have to do it myself." Sasuke finally said. "Otherwise..."

"Otherwise what? It won't 'count' or something?" Asked Naruto. "Otherwise it won't be as satisfying? I'm not letting you run off on your own."

"You couldn't stop me if I wanted to." Declared Sasuke.

Naruto let a ghost of a smirk rise on his face. "Says the guy who got tied up earlier today."

That did it. Sasuke's cheeks flushed crimson for the briefest of moments and he sputtered for a second before crying, "_That_ didn't count!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." Naruto said, grinning outright now. "Hey, sensei, we done for now?"

Kakashi nodded slowly, surveying the blond with his visible eye. "For today, yes. Tomorrow, however, we're going to start on your training. I'll be your opponent. Be warned, though... of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will be chosen. The rest will go back to the Academy. My training is a nightmare unlike anything you've ever faced before. Bring your gear to the training grounds tomorrow morning, at dawn. Skip breakfast, or else you'll make yourselves sick."

Kakashi pulled a few sheets of paper out from his vest, passing one to each of his students. "The details are all right there. Don't be late..."

Naruto smirked, holding his piece of paper into the air and letting the wind carry it away. With a grin, he looked directly at Kakashi and declared, "We'll be there. _You _don't be late."

Sasuke crushed the paper in his hand, glancing off.

Sakura was alternating looks between the paper, her teammates, and her instructor. Gnawing at her lower lip, she suddenly turned to look at Sasuke. "What did he mean? Who tied you up?"

Sasuke's muscles went tense and his eyes slid to where Naruto was standing. "Nobody."

"That's me. One big nobody." Said Naruto, walking back to the railing and hopping onto it. Spinning around to look down at his team, he added, "Seeya in the morning, guys. Don't be late!"

And with that, he flung himself backwards off the rail. Spinning around in the air, he landed upright and took off in a sprint across the rooftops, bouncing from building to building. He would need to get his rest if he wanted to be at the training grounds before the others. But there was still a lot of daylight remaining, and he had some things he wanted to get done. It had felt... liberating, in a way, to finally allow himself to vent some of his frustrations. He had played his cards. Now he had to wait and see how Sasuke would react to them once he'd had time to process what had been on them.

'_You risk everything for **him**_.' Growled the Kyuubi.

'_If I can keep myself from having to kill him again, I'm going to. If I have to pound into that idiot's thick skull that he isn't alone, maybe he won't run off seeking power. I have plans for Sasuke. I'm not letting him fall into the darkness this time_!'

'_You aren't heading home or to Ichiraku. Where is our destination_?' Asked the demon fox.

"Got an old friend to see..." Naruto said, his words being lost to the wind as he flipped down from the roof he was on to the ground. Looking around, he slipped his hands into his pockets and smirked. '_Didn't get a good look at Kakashi or Sakura as I was talking. Don't suppose you were able to_?'

'_The girl was giving you a look I cannot place. The scarecrow was almost certainly trying to peel back a layer or two to see what made you tick. Whether he reached a conclusion or not was anyone's guess, however. He's almost as good at masking his emotions as you are_.'

'_I don't care what the villagers think of me. I know they'll see me differently in the future. I want them all to know what lengths I'm willing to go to for it. I killed myself once to try and save it, and I'll do it again if something goes wrong this time. Until it goes right, I won't let myself rest_!' Thought Naruto. '_If I lose Sakura to Sasuke, then I'll deal with it when it happens. That's obviously not the ending I want, but if it's the one I have to settle for, I will_.'

'_Again, you speak as though your own happiness weren't a factor in your plans_.' Replied the Kyuubi. '_It is unhealthy_.'

'_I'll survive. It's what I do_.' Naruto said, closing his eyes for a moment. '_They might not. That's why he came back. That's why I'm here. If I end up dying to stop Madara, then that's what'll happen. But I won't accept this as a success unless I save _everyone!'

'_Include yourself in that, then_!' Roared the Kyuubi.

Naruto just smiled, rounding a corner and hearing what sounded like someone counting in the distance. He had walked out from the town proper now, and was en route to one of the other training areas. He hadn't been sure the person he was searching for would be there, but the odds were in his favor. Sure enough, as he passed around a few trees, he saw the other boy. New memories surfaced and flashed by, causing him to falter for a moment as he sorted them.

Rock Lee had burned himself out, leaving little more than a hollow shell behind. He had opened the eighth and final Gate in the defense of Konoha when Madara had stormed the town. His efforts hadn't been in vain, as he had severely wounded Madara and was the reason the Uchiha had ultimately retreated. And though the town had suffered many losses that day, Lee had been given a hero's funeral. Pushing himself away from the tree, Naruto walked toward the green-clad taijutsu expert, who was doing situps.

"All by yourself?" Naruto asked, once he was within range.

Lee blinked, stopping his routine to look up at Naruto. "Ah, Naruto-kun! What are you doing out here?"

"About that..."

oOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto groaned as he trudged back into his apartment well after sundown. His muscles ached, and he was sporting a black eye from failing to dodge a telegraphed punch, but he was happy. The one thing he hadn't done yet since merging with his older self was to get into a proper fight. Lee had been all too willing to spar with him, however, and it definitely helped work out a few problems Naruto had foreseen himself having.

For one thing, he wasn't quite used to his limbs being shorter again. He kept getting weird flashbacks to his future self fighting. When he tried to emulate the moves, they wouldn't connect due to his smaller body. He had worked out most of those kinks, however. The second problem was that he really needed to start doing stretches. It wasn't so much the fighting that had left him sore, it was that his body wasn't used to combat now. That was one reason he planned to get to the training grounds before the others. He wanted time to stretch and limber himself up.

Changing as quickly as his aching body would allow, Naruto set his alarm for 5:30 in the morning and promptly collapsed in bed.

"I missed him..." He murmured, staring into the darkened room.

'_Are you certain this is the best way to go about things_?' Asked the Kyuubi. '_I understand your reasoning, but_...'

"I can't properly do it until after Orochimaru comes. I need to literally knock some sense into Neji to make him see things my way. The rest, though... I think I know what I can do." Naruto said, smiling crookedly.

'_Just be aware that the ripples you're making could lead to dire consequences down the road_.' Growled the fox.

"There'll be dire consequences alright. But not for us. Not this time." Said Naruto, closing his eyes and stretching out. "No more talking. Need to try and clear my head, right?"

'_Indeed. Try not to fall asleep before you finish meditating, however_.' Said the Kyuubi.

"Yeah, yeah..."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Dammit..."

'_You knew it was going to happen_.'

"Shut up..."

'_You had to have known how sore you'd be_.'

"Would you please shut up?"

'_What were you expecting, fighting with Rock Lee_?'

"Yes, yes, I'm an idiot who's aching like crazy because I overdid it last night, now would you shut the hell up and let me think?" Naruto snapped, glaring into his empty fridge. "Last time, I didn't eat because I believed Kakashi's dumb warning. This time I'm not gonna eat because my stupid ass forgot to get groceries before I went off to fight Lee..."

'_Best get a move on if you want to loosen up_.'

"Hey! What did I just say?"

'_Merely trying to keep you on schedule, that's all_.'

"Yeah, I'll bet that's all you're doing..." Muttered Naruto, stalking out of his kitchen, slipping his shoes on, and leaving his apartment. It was a chilly morning out, just as he remembered it being the first time around. He took in a deep breath that did wonders for his aching body. That was the one thing he had forgotten to take into account - just how sore he'd be the morning after training. His body was still out of shape. That was a problem he had to fix as soon as possible. He had talked to Lee about it, and the fuzzy-browed boy had said that Naruto could feel free to come around to train with him whenever he wanted.

As he had planned, he was the first to arrive at the training grounds. Plodding over to where the three posts were, he reached out and touched the one he had been tied to in the original timeline. If his ideas worked, things would play out a little differently this time. Looking around for a moment, he dropped to the ground and began work on stretching himself. It was difficult, as his muscles were arguing against the movement the entire time. Eventually, however, they seemed to ease up and behave the way he wanted them to.

It was nearly forty-five minutes before Sasuke and Sakura turned up. Probably met one another along the way, Naruto figured. He was sprawled out on the ground with his arms behind his head, gazing up at the clear morning sky.

"You know," he said, loud enough for his teammates to hear as they approached, "I'll bet you lunch that he doesn't turn up for at least an hour."

"I'm surprised you got here before us." Sakura said, eyeballing Naruto strangely. "You didn't just stay up all night, did you?"

"No, but that probably would've been a better idea than just getting four and a half hours of rest." Said Naruto, making a face.

"...Why did you go to bed so late?" Asked Sakura.

"Out sparring with Rock Lee." Naruto said, closing his eyes and stretching. Wincing slightly, he added, "That's where I got the shiner..."

Sasuke snorted at this. "I've seen him around. He's the one in the green spandex, isn't he?"

"Yup. Completely awful fashion sense. Punches like a damn monster, though..." Naruto said, reaching up and gingerly touching the spot around his injured eye. "So I'm sore and I'm tired and I forgot to get groceries, so I'm starving, too. What about you guys?"

"I slept just fine." Sakura said. "Not used to skipping breakfast, though..."

"I made a large dinner last night." Sasuke offered, sitting down and crossing his arms. "Feeling good so far. I can make it to lunch, at least."

"What do you think he's got planned for us?" Asked Naruto.

"With him, there's no telling." Sakura said, hopping up on one of the posts. Looking up at the sky, she pondered aloud, "You don't think we'll have to fight him, do you?"

"They wouldn't make us win in a fight against a jounin just to advance." Sasuke said, though he didn't sound entirely sure of himself. "Whatever the case, we should be able to deal with it. Oh, and you can consider your stupid bet taken, dead last. Half an hour, at the most."

Naruto smirked. "You're on."

And, at just over an hour later, when Kakashi finally came waltzing into the training grounds, book in hand, Naruto jabbed Sasuke in the ribs with his elbow. "You're lucky Ichiraku isn't expensive."

"I hate you. You know that, right?" Said Sasuke, casting a withering look in Naruto's direction.

"Well aware!" Naruto chirped, grinning. "What can I say, I'm a cheap date!"

"You're late!" Cried Sakura, pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi as he drew nearer.

Kakashi merely smiled behind his mask as he passed his students, heading for a tree stump and pulling out a clock. After fiddling with it for a moment, he turned and faced his team, reaching into a pocket and pulling out two other objects. "The timer's set for noon. You have by then to take these bells from me. Whoever doesn't get a bell also doesn't get any lunch. You'll be tied up to those posts and I'll eat in front of you, in fact. You only need to get one, but there are only two of them. Whoever fails to get one will be sent back to the Academy. You can come at me however you want, and you'd better come after me seriously. I'm not going to go easy just because you're a bunch of kids. Are we all ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be, considering." Naruto muttered, staring at the bells and hearing a ringing in the distance.

"Start!" Kakashi yelled, sitting down on the tree stump next to the clock. Immediately, Sakura and Sasuke leapt off, hiding themselves in the foliage nearby. Naruto, however, stood his ground.

'_The ringing is in my head, isn't it_?' He asked.

'_Most likely. Try to tune it out_.' The Kyuubi replied.

Sighing, Naruto glanced to the side, where he knew his teammates were hiding, then looked back at Kakashi. The man had pulled out his book and was glancing down at it casually. Sticking his hands into his pockets, Naruto strolled over to him, moving to one side so that he could talk to Kakashi without fear that Sasuke was reading his lips.

"Where'd you get the black eye?" Asked Kakashi, his tone light.

"Training with Rock Lee." Naruto said. "Figured I could use some exercise. Kinda dodged when I should have ducked. I don't think I'll ever be able to throw a punch like him."

"Guy's trained him up well." Kakashi said, his gaze leaving the book. "You're supposed to be trying to get a bell, not chatting with me. What're you planning?"

"Trying to decide something very important." Naruto said. "...It's been a long time since we got to talk like this. I'm nervous."

Kakashi's visible eyebrow raised somewhat. "I don't think we've ever talked before."

Naruto only smiled wanly in reply. "I know this is about teamwork, Kakashi-sensei. I'll try and round those two up and work on a plan, but..."

"But...?"

"I really need to burn off some frustration." Naruto said, his hands opening and closing reflexively. "I'll get them after, but... could you humor me just for a few minutes?"

"Whatever you think you can throw at me, I can handle." Kakashi said, making a shooing motion with his hand. "Go on and do what you need to."

Naruto nodded slowly, turning and heading back to where he was originally standing. Kakashi's eye followed him, glancing down to the boy's hands. It would have been hard for his teammates to notice, perhaps, but it didn't pass by him. Naruto was forming and releasing tiny balls of chakra each time his hands opened. That, Kakashi decided, was incredibly strange for someone who was supposed to have gotten the weakest grades in his class. In fact, Naruto had been acting very differently than the Third had said he would. Kakashi had no doubt that if the boy had been capable of anything beyond shadow clones, the Hokage would have at least made a passing mention of it. He looked back down to his book, though he was unable to focus on the words now.

'_Stop doing that before the Uchiha brat notices_.' The Kyuubi said.

Naruto's hands closed into fists as he turned back to face Kakashi. _'Sorry. But like I said, I need to burn off some frustration_.'

'_You can't use the Rasengan now. Weren't you saying that you didn't want the brat to not be aware of your 'tricks' before you were ready_?' Asked the Kyuubi. '_And beyond that, it's dangerous. There are very few ninja who have used the Rasengan, and you've known all of them to some degree. The scarecrow is no fool. Use that in front of him now and we'll end up staring down Morino Ibiki_.'

'_What he doesn't know won't hurt me. I've thought this through. Just let me get this pent-up anger out of my system. Fighting with Lee helped, but I couldn't push myself against him_.' Naruto argued.

'_You can't go all out against Kakashi, either. Not in front of them_.'

'_That's another reason I went to fight Lee. To tire my body out so I wouldn't be _able _to fight Kakashi at full strength. I'm only going to be able to push myself as far as my aching body will let me. I know the risks involved. But he won't see anything if I don't want him to_.'

'_It isn't about whether he _sees _it or not_.' The Kyuubi replied gruffly. '_It's about him reporting any oddities to the old man. The old man if we're lucky. If we aren't_...'

'_Straight into the Torture and Interrogation boys. I know_.' Naruto said.

'_Then play your cards very carefully. If you try doing anything I deem dangerous, I **will **__stop you_.' Said the Kyuubi.

'_That a threat, fox_?'

'_Merely a warning_.'

Naruto licked his lips, bringing his hands up. His fight with Lee had prepared him somewhat for how different combat would feel, but it wasn't enough. The memories had been hammering against him since his older self had come back. He _had _to vent his frustrations. If he didn't, he was going to go off and do something truly stupid. Eight letters, sealed in envelopes, were sitting on his desk back at his apartment, addressed to the other jinchuuriki. Warning them about what Akatsuki would eventually try to do to them. It was only through a long argument with the demon fox that he stopped himself from sending them. For now, anyway.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He roared suddenly. And, in an instant, the training ground filled to capacity with shadow clones. This threw Kakashi into alert, as all of the reports on the boy's skill had said nothing about being able to do something like this. Naruto vanished amidst the clones and, as one, they all began to speak, all of them slightly out of synch with one another. "I know you can find the real me if you want to. Same goes for that Uchiha idiot! So why don't the both of you get a good look and tell me what you _really _see. I'll fight you on your own terms if that's really what you want, sensei. Just know that I might surprise you!"

Surprise, huh? Kakashi smirked as he set his book down, reaching up and pulling his forehead protector up, revealing his Sharingan. Glancing through the mass of shadow clones, he spotted the real Naruto somewhere towards the back. He was hidden from plain view, but something was going on with his chakra. From what Kakashi could see, it kept flaring up and, at least once, he was sure he caught sight of it changing colors. He wasn't sure what to make of that, though he had his guesses. His eye floated to the right, where he caught sight of both Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke's own Sharingan were active, and he looked about as confused as Kakashi felt.

A sudden surge of chakra made Kakashi's attention snap back to Naruto. But Naruto had moved, and the shadow clones had started their assault. One after another, they flew at the jounin relentlessly, getting themselves destroyed in a single hit apiece. But no matter how many he hit, more would take their place. It had been a long time since Kakashi had been forced to deal with so many clones. As he moved and fought back against the clones' attacks, he searched for the real Naruto. But the real Naruto had vanished somewhere. Kakashi kept moving, kept looking around, but no matter where he looked, he was unable to find Naruto anywhere. One of the clones managed to sweep Kakashi's leg out from under him, causing him to topple backwards. However, the jounin kicked off with his other foot, flipping back towards the river and away from the army of shadow clones.

This, however, was exactly what Naruto had been waiting for. He had gone underground and effectively drilled himself a tunnel out into the water, waiting for his clones to push Kakashi back. Launching himself from the river, he swung a hand at Kakashi, clipping one of the bells and causing it to ring. Kakashi spun, grabbed him by the ankle, and tossed him back toward the three posts. Naruto landed on his feet and, standing up straight, dismissed his clones.

"Could've gotten it if I had wanted." Naruto said, panting heavily. A grin rose on his face as he turned away from his teacher, heading toward where he knew his teammates were hiding. "But like I said, there's no point in doing it that way when I know what this is really about."

Kakashi stared at Naruto as he walked off, breathing hard but otherwise showing no signs of exhaustion. This was well above what he should've been able to do. And not just skill-wise, he had shown a level of tactical thinking that belied his grades. Something was definitely wrong here. He turned and looked at the now-obvious hole in the ground, which must have happened when Kakashi had felt the chakra surge. If the clones hadn't been blocking his vision, and if he hadn't been constantly looking for the real Naruto, he would have noticed that the water around where Naruto had exited had turned dark from the dirt and mud spilling out into it. He would have to have a little talk with the Hokage about this.

"What the hell was that?" Asked Sasuke, leaping down from the tree he had been hiding in.

"Why didn't you take one of the bells, you idiot?" Cried Sakura, also coming out of hiding.

"This is about teamwork." Naruto said. "It'd mean nothing if I got one on my own. We either do this as a team or not at all."

"Hang teamwork, how did you make so many shadow clones, dead last?" Asked Sasuke, his Sharingan still active.

"You'd be surprised what I can do. Like I've said before, lack of effort doesn't mean lack of talent. It isn't important how I did it. What's important is I know a way to get the bells away from him without burning any more chakra... which is good, since I kind of depleted a lot just now." Naruto said.

"...Alright, let's hear it, then." Sasuke said, crossing his arms.

"It's that book of his." Naruto said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. Kakashi was sitting back on the tree stump, gaze on Ichaicha Paradise once more. "I've heard he likes that series a lot. He hasn't reached the end of that one yet. Now what if I told you I knew the ending?"

"I'd say 'so what.' What's that got to do with anything?" Sasuke asked, looking sour.

Rolling his eyes, Naruto explained, "Use your head, wouldja? You have those weird eyes too, right? If I were to stop talking and just mouthed words, you'd still be able to see what I was saying, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, and?"

"And..." Naruto continued, grinning. "If he doesn't want us to spoil the ending to his dumb book, he'll have to close his eyes."

"Why both of them? He had his right eye closed while he was fighting your clones. He can't read lips normally, can he?" Asked Sakura.

"Betcha he wouldn't risk it on the offchance he made something out." Naruto said, smirking. "He'll cover his ears, he'll close his eyes, and we can get the bells."

"But there's only two." Sasuke said. "So who gets left out?"

Naruto's smirk grew at this. "Come on, Sasuke, figure it out on your own. You shouldn't need the 'dead last' of the class to tell you what we're gonna do, do you?"

Sasuke scowled at this. "Fine, but if your idiotic plan doesn't work, I'm going after him myself."

"Fair enough." Naruto said. "Alright, here's how the book ends. Try and memorize as much of this as you can..."

oOoOoOoOoOo

**Author's Notes**: As stated elsewhere, originally there was going to be at least a Rasengan thrown out during Naruto's siege on Kakashi. But the Kyuubi is right - no sense in risking so much just to vent. So he went about things a little differently. And now he's using the idea he thought of after the time jump in the original. So what's going to happen the second time around in this timeline? Kakashi wouldn't fall for the same tactics twice, would he?

And yes, I'm leaving it on a slight cliffhanger for now. Hopefully it won't take me too long to get the next chapter out. They do seem to be coming easier now that I've gotten some steam built up.


	6. Direction

Naruto sighed as he stared out over the town. Evening had fallen, taking Naruto's good mood with it. He and his team had succeeded with Kakashi's dumb test, but it was of little consolation to the boy. It wasn't how it had originally been done, and his constantly shifting position on making changes was starting to get under his own skin. Once Kakashi had dismissed them, he had left right away, saying that he needed to eat. Now here it was, a good day since he had last eaten anything, and his hunger had completely left him.

"I think," he murmured, "that I need to just dive in. If I keep faltering like this, nothing will be fixed..."

_"__A wise thought_.' Murmured the Kyuubi. '_So? What path will you walk_?"

"I need to take risks." Naruto stated. "If I have to... I'll repeat the process. I'll change what I need to until everything works, dammit..."

_"__No matter how long it might take? No matter the strain on our sanity_?"

"We can shoulder it."

_"__You don't sound very confident_." The Kyuubi said.

"I don't _feel _very confident." Naruto replied. "It's all really scary, ya know? For one thing, the hell are we gonna do after we go training with Ero-sennin? Kakashi won't fall for us revealing the ending to his books more than once, surely."

_"__After the hermit's training, we can let ourselves loose a bit more. It can all fall under the old man's guidance, of course. As long as we progress steadily, no one will be the wiser_." Growled the Kyuubi. "_So you've decided to take risks. What of the Uchiha brat_?"

"When he's taken by Orochimaru's men, I'll give chase. I trust the others will survive again. As for Sasuke... I don't care if I have to break his spine, I'm not letting him run away this time. Everything that happened after he left would be a lot easier to deal with if he was fighting with us instead of against us. If we have to brainwash his revenge fantasies out of his head, we will." Naruto said, his eyes narrowing.

"_And the girl? If you bring the brat back_..."

"Like I said... if everyone else is alive and well, I'm fine with sacrificing my own happiness." Said Naruto, pushing himself up from the crouch he was in. "The town won't be destroyed, Sasuke won't run off, I won't let anyone die, and we'll kill Uchiha Madara and Kabuto before they can start raising corpses to fight for them."

"_Your older self's memories haven't finished merging, have they_?" Asked the Kyuubi.

"I don't think they have. How'd you know?"

"_One very obvious sign_." Stated the fox. "_It'll come to you, in time. Sooner rather than later, I hope_."

"Why don't you just tell me what it is?" Asked Naruto.

"_It would be meaningless that way. I'll wait_."

"Hey, fox. Mind if I throw a question your way?"

"_Feel free_."

"I know we only just got on his good side, but... y'know. Do you think Kakashi could be trusted yet?"

"_It's very soon to be thinking of that_." Said the Kyuubi. "_The scarecrow might not believe you. He might go to the Third. Or worse. Just because you're on his team doesn't mean things are like they were before_."

"It wouldn't be hard to prove that I'm not lying." Naruto said. "How much power do you think my body could put out right now?"

"_Right now? Not much. You're still weak, unfortunately. I wouldn't dare even trying a one-tailed shroud as you are at this moment_." Replied the Kyuubi. "_Keep training. I'll keep an eye on your progress. And when the proper memories return, I might give you more room to move_."

Naruto hopped down to street level, hands slipping into pockets as he let his eyes unfocus. He knew where he wanted to go by heart. '_Something else is bothering me, though_.'

_"__What_?" Asked the demon fox.

'_Sasuke's eyes_.'

"_A minor problem at best. A few weeks' difference_."

'_Yeah, but I mouthed off like he had them already. And lo and behold, he did. I got lucky that time. I could just say I was spying on him while he was training to explain away how I knew he had them already, but I need to be careful_.'

"_There was no way you could've known_."

'_There are always ways_.' Naruto replied. '_I just need to get used to using them. I can make my clones blend in perfectly if I wanted them to. Keeping a few active and stationary would barely take any chakra. Might send some out tonight, just to get recon on a few people. I really want to get ahold of Neji as soon as I can. And if they're found out, they're easy to hand-wave_.'

"_True enough_." Replied the Kyuubi. "_This isn't the way to your apartment_."

'_No. It isn't. Not gonna tell him everything. Just going to give a hint that I know more than I should. Talk about Haku and Zabuza a little, maybe. Nothing beyond that_.' Naruto thought.

"_Be very careful what you disclose_."

'_I will_.' Naruto thought.

"_Your confidence is ebbing back, it seems_."

'_No, I'm just a good actor_.'

When he stopped walking, he stared at the door in front of him for awhile. It would be a bit before he got home, but that was alright. It was easy enough to get into the apartment, and even easier to help himself to something to eat while he waited. That, he decided, was Kakashi's punishment for trying to trick them into being hungry for the test. Naruto was thinking up routes this path could take him down, and trying to work out solutions to each of them. It was mindless busywork and he knew it, but he also knew it would be some time before Kakashi returned home.

When the door finally opened, it was nearly three hours later. Naruto was sitting at Kakashi's kitchen table, nursing a freshly-refilled glass of water. It took him a moment to realize his newly-named sensei was looking at him with a quizzical expression on his face.

"How, exactly, did you get into my locked apartment?" He finally asked.

"Years of practice." Naruto replied, not looking up from his glass. "We need to talk, Kakashi-sensei."

"About?" Asked the man, walking into the room and sitting opposite his student.

"Me." Naruto said. "You sensed it, right? What I did out there today."

"Indeed I did. The supposed dead-last pulled off some impressive tricks." Kakashi said. "So are you planning on divulging your secrets?"

"Only some of them. Too dangerous to go beyond the basics. ...Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

Naruto finally looked up, staring straight into Kakashi's visible eye. For a moment, the two sat in silence. "...If I told you I knew everything that would happen for the next few years, what would you say?"

"I'd say you need to read fewer books." Kakashi said.

"If I told you a few years in the future, everything was gone, and I'd lost everything, so I thought of a way to return to the past to try and fix it all... what would you say?"

"Are you feeling alright, Naruto?"

"Define 'alright,' sensei." Naruto replied. "My mind's full of memories from my older self. I have flashbacks to things that haven't happened yet. When I close my eyes, I see the stares of the dead looking back at me. It's due to him coming back that I'm suddenly behaving differently. Iruka-sensei has noticed, I'm sure you have, despite only being around me a short time. The Third's probably told you all about me. And none of it matches up. Am I right?"

Kakashi surveyed the boy across the table from him for a long time after he'd finished speaking. There was something strange to his tone of voice, and there was a distant look in his eyes. Kakashi had seen that look a few times before, but it always belonged to the older shinobi that were kept in the hospital. Whatever he thought of the boy's crazy story, there was something genuine to the pain in his eyes and voice. "The reports don't match up to what I've seen, no," he finally admitted. "But to come in here expecting me to believe this story of yours is a bit much, don't you think?"

"It doesn't matter if you believe me right now." Naruto said, glancing back at his glass of water "I can prove what I'm saying easily enough. But... and this is important... I can't reveal too much. I've changed a few small things already, and it's got me nervous. But I've decided that things have to change if I want to keep everyone from being killed this time, and I can't do it alone. My older self's memories are still merging with mine. Sometimes, when I see someone, I'll get flashes to things that haven't happened yet. I need someone I can talk to. Otherwise... I'm scared it might drive me mad."

"From my perspective," Kakashi said, leaning forward in his chair. "You sound quite mad already. Have you talked to anyone else about this?"

Naruto opened his mouth, then paused. Looking at at Kakashi, a weak smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Only the demon fox inside of me."

Of all the responses Kakashi had expected to hear, that one wasn't in the batch. "...What do you mean?" He asked slowly.

"You don't have to play dumb. Look..." Naruto said, letting a tiny bit of the Kyuubi's chakra surface. It was enough to switch the color of his eyes. "Don't worry... my older self had become friends with the Kyuubi. When they came back and merged with us, they told me how to break the seal my father had made. The Kyuubi's helped a lot with the memories, but it isn't the same. It's in the same boat I am, it's just better at dealing with it, ya know? I can use its power when I need to. I can't really show you more. Both because it'd put me in danger of someone discovering the seal's been broken and because I'm not entirely sure how well my smaller body here can hold up to it. The Kyuubi's power is strong, but it's a bit... destructive."

Kakashi reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. This had now gone well into territory he didn't want to be walking in. The feel of the chakra was unmistakable, and it had bubbled up enough to just be visible. The other parts of his story might have been lies, but the Kyuubi's seal being broken was most definitely not one of them. In addition, he had mentioned his father and, though there were ways of finding this information out...

"How did you know about the Fourth?" He asked.

"It's... complicated. I've... spoken to him and mom both, though. That part's still kinda fuzzy to me right now. I think it had something to do with them leaving a bit of chakra behind?" Naruto said, tilting his head. "...The Kyuubi's being a pain and not telling me. Keeps saying I have to remember on my own or it 'won't count,' whatever that means. Look... just... give me a chance to prove I'm right, okay? In a week or two, I'm not sure when, someone'll come by the village. His name is Tazuna. He's a bridge builder and he's going to come asking Konoha for help. He'll say he wants someone to protect him from bandits, but that's a lie. A man named Gatou has hired a pair of assassins to kill Tazuna due to the bridge getting in the way of his smuggling operation. Team 7 will be sent out to protect him, and we won't find out the truth until much later. When all of this starts to happen... will you believe me then?"

"This is a lot to digest, Naruto." Kakashi said. "And I'm not sure I believe a word of it, save for the Kyuubi's seal being broken. What makes you think I won't go directly to the Third with this? If the Kyuubi tries to take control..."

"It won't." Naruto interrupted. "It used to try, but it and my older self finally started working together at a certain point. ...In the end, the fox was all he had left."

"How do you know it isn't lying?"

"I know." Naruto said. "I'd love knowing how far I can push our combined powers, since I haven't really had a chance to train since all this started, save for sparring with you... but with how much could go wrong from letting its power loose, there's no way I can do that. My older self got up to... what, three tails initially, before the Kyuubi tried seizing controls? Something like that..."

"Tails?"

"Huh? Oh, right, right. Uh... hard to explain. You'll see, eventually." Naruto said. "...Sorry, I know I'm making no sense at all. It's all really tough to put into words, especially since I have to be careful what I say. I'm not trying to be frustrating."

"How far into the future can you see?" Asked Kakashi.

"As far as my older self lived. The technique he used separated both his soul and the Kyuubi's from his body. In other words..."

"He committed suicide..."

"Yeah." Naruto said, staring at the glass of water again. "It was some forbidden technique that used up the last of their power. I only know what I saw the first time and what I heard about from others. I don't know everything. But I know enough. I have to let some things play out the same, if possible, or else I lose my advantage. That's what's driving me crazy. I need people to talk to about this kind of stuff."

"You talked about losing everything earlier..." Kakashi started. "How much, exactly, was lost?"

"When I say everything, I mean it." Naruto said. "And before you ask, I can't give you any information that might help prevent something from happening to the town. Not until it's safe to. There's one point a few years off that I'll need to prepare everyone for. I won't see the town turned to rubble again, dammit."

"You break into my house, tell me the demon fox that tried to destroy the town is free, tell me you can see the future, hint at everyone dying and the town being reduced to rubble, expect me to buy into all of it, and ask that I not tell anyone. Does that just about cover it?"

"More or less. If it helps, here... watch. I'll officially learn this from Jiraiya not too long from now..." Naruto said. Getting to his feet, he held one of his hands out, palm facing the ceiling. With a slight bit of concentration, a swirling ball of chakra formed in it. "...You know what it is, right?"

"The Rasengan..." Kakashi said, staring at the whirling sphere before Naruto let it fade. "...Okay, Naruto, you have my attention. If this Tazuna man comes by, then I'll think about believing your tale. Is that fair?"

"More than fair." Naruto said. "I figured I'd have to wait for him to show up. Just... please, don't tell anyone, alright? I don't plan to let everything fall apart this time, so... believe in me. I know how insane all of this sounds, believe me. But I need someone I can trust. Out of everyone in this town, I trust you the most. I know you won't rat me out to anyone."

"How can you be so sure?"

"'_Those who abandon their friends are worse than scum_.'" Naruto said.

"...You've given me a lot to think about. And I'm not sure I like any of it." Kakashi admitted, finally getting back to his feet.

"You don't have to like it. I sure don't. But I have to deal with it, because I don't have any choice. Hey, tell Yamato hi for me, will ya? ...Uh, wait, crap, you know him as Tenzou right now, huh? He doesn't take Yamato as a name until later..." Naruto said, pausing to think.

"Tenzou? How do you know him?" Asked Kakashi.

"Can't say!" Chirped Naruto. "Don't worry too much about it, it's not because anything bad happens to you."

"You realize that saying that is only going to make me want to ask more questions, right?" Kakashi said.

"Yup. Maddening, isn't it?" Naruto said, smiling slightly. "I think I'll head out to train a little. Lee should be out there somewhere. Still getting used to fighting in this body again. Older self's memories are getting in the way. I keep thinking my arms and legs are longer. Gonna train with Lee until I get my fighting sense back."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Yo, Lee! Still at it, huh?"

"Ah, Naruto-kun! It's good to see you've recovered!"

Naruto smirked slightly as he walked up to the green-clad ninja. "Yeah, I have a talent for healing, it seems. Working on anything in particular today?"

"Mostly just exercises." Lee responded, hopping up from the ground, where he'd previously been doing push-ups. "Have you come to train with me again?"

"Yeah. I think last time helped a lot. I've run from the villagers a lot due to my pranks, but I've never actually sat down and thought about exercising properly." Naruto said, looking sheepish. It was a straight lie, but Lee didn't need to know that. Besides, stretching his muscles and getting used to his smaller body was top priority at the moment. "Though... I did hear a rumor..."

"About what?" Asked Lee, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"You." Naruto said. And, walking closer and lowering his voice, Naruto made a showing of glancing around to make sure they weren't being listened in on. "I heard you wear weights to help with your speed. Was just wondering if you think I could use that, too..."

Lee blinked owlishly, obviously not expecting to hear this. "Who told you about that?"

"I overheard Guy-sensei talking." Lied Naruto, grinning crookedly. "I didn't mean to! Was gonna set up a prank on the old man, that's all. So it's true, then?"

Lee made a face and thought for a moment before nodding slowly. "I do wear weights around my ankles, yes." He finally said, looking at Naruto. "Don't tell anyone, though. As far as someone else using them, I'm honestly not sure. You need to have the stamina to adjust to them."

Naruto crossed his arms, tilting his head in thought. "If I kept training with you in my spare time, do you think I'd get up to where I could do that? It sounded like it could be really useful. An enemy can't hit what they can't see, right?"

"You'd have to do more than train with me." Lee said, another smile returning to his face. "You'd have to really push yourself and work out to start catching up with me. I can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, so I've focused solely on taijutsu. Guy-sensei has pushed me to my breaking point more times than I can count. Of course, you're free to try! It was nice having someone other than my teammates to spar with. I haven't caught up to Neji yet, and matches with Tenten usually end with us throwing weapons back and forth..."

Naruto snorted as the thought ran through his mind. "Well, I'll certainly give it my all. I want to get stronger. I'm gonna be Hokage one day, after all! ...But I don't think I'm quite ready to protect a whole town right now. I've got to get stronger to keep everyone I care about safe, though."

"An honorable goal." Lee said, the smile growing. "Guy-sensei says that to truly be strong, one must fight for someone else's sake."

"I definitely want to do that." Naruto said, a far-away look passing over his face for a moment. Blinking it away and clearing his throat, he stretched and asked, "So, fill me in. What kind of exercise did you plan to do today? Dunno if I'll be able to keep up, but I'll be doing everything in my power to."

The boy's smile split into a grin and, not for the first time, he had a feeling that training with Rock Lee would end with his body hating him.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"I hate being right." Naruto groaned, collapsing onto his bed and wincing as half his body told him that such a maneuver was most certainly not appreciated. "And I hate that I couldn't keep to his pace..."

"_Your body isn't used to it. Give it time_" The Kyuubi growled.

"Time is something I don't have an excess of." Naruto said, opening his eyes and staring up at his darkened ceiling. Once more, he had finished training with Lee far later than he'd anticipated. But he was too worked up to sleep, not to mention too sore. "...I want to deliver one of the letters, fox. I know you've mentioned that I shouldn't, but... if we can alert the other jinchuuriki, shouldn't we do it?"

"_They'd be suspicious. Some might not even read what you send_." Said the Kyuubi, its voice lowering slightly.

"That's the real problem, huh?" Naruto murmured. "B might read it, but..."

"_The others are on their own. Even then, you only really knew two others_."

"I wish I could talk to Gaara." Naruto said, his eyes closing halfway. "I wish I could talk to all of them in person. I wish I could get to know them. Maybe if I could pass information along, they might not fall this time."

"_But there's also no guarantee they'd work with us. They all have their own circumstances_."

"I need to think about the order, too. Fuu-san and Han-san need to come first. Their bijuu were already extracted after I trained with Jiraiya, right? Roushi-san was probably next. Then Yugito-san and Utakata-san. But..."

"_Isobu is the problem_." Said the Kyuubi. "_The kid is probably dead already and Isobu's loose and in hiding right now. And we don't know where that is, unfortunately_."

"Dammit. Why can't anything ever be easy?" Naruto asked. "...Lemme borrow some chakra."

"_What do you plan to use it for_?" Asked the Kyuubi, wariness in its voice.

"Something important." Naruto stated, pushing himself up and off the bed. Walking over to the window, he opened it up and slipped outside. It was a quiet night in the village, and the air was completely still.

"_It seems your newfound determination has also made you foolish. If you get caught doing anything_..."

"I won't get caught." Naruto stated. "I'll fake getting sick and use training with Lee and pushing myself with Kakashi as my excuse. I just need a week, dammit all. I know I can do this!"

"_And how do you know that no one will catch you? How do you know you'll succeed_?"

"Because I'm the greatest ninja in the world." Naruto declared, grinning as he brought his hands up.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Four days of travel. That's how long it had taken. It had been a very trying process, to say the least. But they had worked out a system. Still, Naruto was suffering for his plan, because he was getting almost no sleep at all. He was staying in bed as much as he possibly could, and when anyone came by to check on him, he could use the Kyuubi's chakra to heat himself up just enough for any suspicions to go away. So far, he had driven off Kakashi, Iruka, and even a surprise visit by Lee, who was curious why Naruto had stopped dropping by in the evenings.

Four days, and his Clone had finally arrived, slipping into the city just as stealthily as he had slipped out of Konoha. His Clone had gone completely undetected, under the cover of night, and he had disguised it to look like someone else on top of that. He sure hoped the guy who worked in the clothing store that Naruto got his outfits in didn't mind. He was only borrowing the man's appearance, after all, and it was for a good cause.

Stepping out of the alley, the disguised Clone glanced around. Night still had a few hours left to it, but the city was still bustling, which came as a bit of a surprise. Walking up to one of the people just outside of a restaurant, the Clone cleared its throat. When the group turned to look at him, he asked, "Would it be possible to point me towards someone? I've only just arrived here, and I'm trying to hunt someone down. I uh... I've heard he isn't difficult to find, but I'm a bit lost."

"Who're ya lookin' for?" Asked one of the men.

"Short, red-hair, tends to go crazy with sand?"

The look on all three men dropped at this, and they exchanged a glance. The one Naruto's Shadow Clone had been speaking to licked his lips before looking back and replying, "Why're you after that thing? He'd sooner kill ya than talk..."

"I think I'll be alright. So, do you know where he is?"

"...He's usually off on his own at the far end of town. Think he has a room around there. I dunno. I try to keep as far away from that demon as I can..." Said the man.

"Thanks!"

As the Clone made its way across the city, Naruto opened bloodshot eyes. "Why the hell didn't I leave a Clone behind and go myself?"

"_Because it's easier to get the hell out of there if something goes wrong this way_."

"Yeah, but if he gets a clean hit in on my Clone, that's it. Four days down the toilet."

"_This was your plan, not mine. You wanted to track him down, now you've almost reached that goal_."

Naruto winced as he shifted his position in bed. "Yeah yeah..." He muttered. "You have permission to veto my stupid plans, ya know. Might wanna run better ideas by me next time before we go with something of mine, huh?"

He could almost _hear _the Kyuubi smirk as it replied, "_As you wish_."

Dropping into a crouch, Naruto's Clone found what he was looking for. It wasn't hard. The boy was sitting out in the open, staring up at the sky and looking just about as exhausted as Naruto felt. Glancing around, Naruto let the disguise on his Clone drop. This was it. Either he'd start to get through to his old friend or four days had been wasted.

"Hey." Naruto's Clone said, walking towards the red-haired boy.

The boy's eyes shifted ever so slightly as he looked over. "Go away."

"Not a nice thing to someone who took over half a week just to come see you." Said the Clone, walking just close enough that he hopefully wouldn't get into what the boy considered his personal space. Looking up at the sky, he asked, "Can't sleep? I know how that is. Mine won't let me sleep sometimes, too."

The boy glared at Naruto's Clone, finally getting to his feet. "I told you to go away."

The Clone turned and stared straight into the boy's eyes. "Gaara. I want you to listen to me. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I live in Konohagakure. What's talking now is a Shadow Clone I've spent the last four days hauling the distance between our villages just to see you. Why? Because, like you, I also have a demon inside me. Everyone in my village hates and fears me, too."

The boy, Gaara, narrowed his eyes at this. "What do you mean?"

Naruto's Clone closed his eyes for a moment. When they opened, they were scarlet. Allowing a trace of the Kyuubi's chakra to rise to the surface, he explained, "You have one of the nine tailed beasts sealed in you. Shukaku. I'm at the other end. I have the Kyuubi in me. I've been bullied and looked down on my entire life because of this. I had nightmares that it would take control, devour me whole, and destroy the city. ...But things changed. I can't explain what right now, but soon we'll have plenty of time to talk. Some day in the near future, you and your siblings will come to Konoha. I'll be waiting for you there. It won't be hard to find me. I don't expect you to accept anything I'm saying yet. I just... wanted you to know you aren't as alone as you think you are."

"You know nothing about me." Hissed Gaara through gritted teeth.

"I know more about you than you think. And I know more about what you'll become than you could ever realize. One day, Gaara... everyone in this town will respect you. Everyone will look up to you. Everyone will turn to you for guidance. You'll become a leader everyone will love. That self-inflicted scar of yours will have a completely different meaning then. And until then, no matter what anyone else thinks about you, I refuse to give up on you! I don't care if I have to beat it into you, I'm gonna be your friend, Gaara!" Said the Clone, puffing his chest out and crossing his arms as he smirked at the redhead. "I know what it's like to be alone. But I've met people who didn't care that I had the demon fox sealed inside of me. People who didn't think I was a monster for something that wasn't even my fault. I'd die to keep them safe. And no matter what you try in the future, I'll fight to keep them safe because they saved me from the hell I was living in. And I'm gonna do the same for you. Even if I have to beat you up to make you realize it."

"BE QUIET!" Gaara screamed suddenly. And, just like that, the Shadow Clone was skewered by sand.

For a brief moment, just before it dissipated, the Clone grinned at Gaara once more and gasped out, "I'll be waiting..."

It was gone, and Naruto winced at the backlash that suddenly slammed into him. Whimpering as he rolled onto his side, he squeezed his eyes shut and mumbled, "I think I made him mad."

"_Did you honestly believe you could change him just by walking up out of nowhere and giving him a speech_?"

"Nope. Not a bit."

"_Then why_?"

"Planting the seed of doubt." Naruto said, cracking an eye open and grinning crookedly through his pain. "He'll come when Orochimaru comes. He won't get rid of the real version of me that easily. Just like last time, I'll probably have to beat him up to make him realize that he isn't alone. Maybe this time... maybe we can save Shukaku, too..."

"_Saving the others would be nice... but we can't let ourselves get too worked up if we don't. You know this, correct_?" Asked the Kyuubi.

"Yeah... but I'm still gonna try." Naruto said, pushing himself up and letting out a weak groan. "Try and help me figure out a way to deal with the Sanbi bein' loose. What'd you say his name was earlier? Iso-"

It was different from the pain of his Clone being destroyed. It was different from the pain he had felt after training with Lee. It was different from the pain he felt when Sakura had spoken how she really felt about him when he had been disguised as Sasuke. His chest had suddenly seized up, sucking the wind out of him in the process and making his vision go blurred. Memories. More memories had come flooding back to him suddenly. He wasn't sure if it was due to the sleep deprivation or if thinking about the other bijuu was simply what triggered it, but something had caused more memories to hit him. Memories, he realized, that he should have remembered from the start.

"_More visions of the past_?" Asked the Kyuubi.

Naruto nodded slightly.

"..._What's the matter_?"

Bringing a hand up, Naruto wiped at the corners of his eyes. It did no good, as more tears spilled out immediately. Finding his throat suddenly feeling tight, he swallowed and tried to speak, but all that left his mouth was a ragged breath. Squeezing his eyes shut once more, he pulled in a long, slow breath. As he let it out, he opened his eyes again, blinking away the tears that were blurring his vision. A shaky smile formed as he lifted his head. This wasn't going to stop any time soon, he realized. But, perhaps just this once, it didn't need to.

"Nothing." He managed to finally say, his voice quiet. Wiping at his eyes again, he laid back down and gazed up at the ceiling as the tears fell freely. "Nothing at all, Kurama..."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

**Author's Notes**: Psst. Hey guys, don't tell anyone, but this is a story about altering the timeline. Some things won't be the same! Shock and wonder!

Seriously, people actually pushed up their thick nerd glasses at me to tell me about Sasuke's eyes. Guys, I know what I'm writing. I've got all this stuff planned out. I might miss a particular detail, but I do the research. Like, for instance, that it apparently takes three full days to get from Konoha to Suna. Is that right? It's as right as my research tells me it is. I only found a few sources, but they all seemed to agree on the matter. If it isn't, handwave it. It's fanfiction. I don't have to be one hundred percent accurate on small details like that.

But stuff like Sasuke's Sharingan coming in before the fight with Haku? Come on now. I've got powers and interactions and the like plotted out. Some people are going to have things early, some will be missing things. Because Naruto sent a clone to go and Friendship Speech at Gaara, things will be a bit different when the exams roll in. Because Naruto's training with Lee, he has a way to get to Neji and Tenten if he wants to. And he most certainly wants to. Especially Neji, because there's a few things he wants to deal with there. But, like Gaara, he'll have to Friendship Punch him a few times to make what he says sink in.

Speaking of the exams - this 'book' will go up to the end of the exams. That is, when Orochimaru and Gaara attack Konoha. After that it'll switch to a second 'book.' Mostly to help me stay sane, because I don't want to plan one long, 80 chapter continuous thing after working in 'book' form for Harry Potter stuff for all these years. It'd drive me batty.

Anyway, next time a familiar face will stop in and Team 7 will be off on their first real mission. I hope it won't take me half a year or however long it's been to get chapter 7 out. Writer's Block and real life circumstances involving family health problems and the like have been what's kept me silent for so long, and I do apologize for that. But I'm forcing myself to get back into the swing now that things are calming down again.


End file.
